The Lightning Sage
by Zalz
Summary: The child who was thought supposed to be dead returns to Konoha. Watch as how the child makes an identity for himself. Jinchuuriki-twin sister. Smart-Powerful-Kekkei Genkai-Naruto.
1. Chapter 1

**The Lightning Sage**

The trio of Maito Gai, Hatake Kakashi and Sarutobi Asuma walked down one of the busy streets of Konoha as they made their way towards a bar for light drinks. A few minutes ago the trio had attended a meeting with the Lord Hokage along with other jounins who had a genin team. The meeting was to ask the jounin sensei whether they felt that their team was ready to compete in the chuunin selection examinations that were going to be commence in a week in Konoha. The trio had also entered their teams in this exam and it was the first time that their teams were going to be competing in such an important event. Of the three, two of the jounin's teams were rookie teams who had just graduated out of the academy a few months prior. Though normally such a thing would cause an uproar but the three rookie teams which had entered the examination this year were rather special because of the genins of the teams.

"So Asuma, where did Kurenai leave in such a hurry?" asked Kakashi as he lifted his head from the orange book as he eyed the jounin who was currently taking a drag of his cigarette.

Said jounin spoke after he exhaled the smoke which filled his lungs because of the drag, "Don't know! She was talking something about bonding between kunoichis…" suddenly he felt the eyes of both his companion on him "… don't ask as I myself still don't know what the bonding thing is."

Kakashi eyed the beard jounin for a couple of second and return to reading his book. Meanwhile the third jounin of the trio who had his black hair cut in bowl style went into deep thinking as he heard what his fellow jounin had to say.

After a couple of minutes of deep thinking Gai finally spoke (or rather in his case shouted), "Yosh! We should follow the examples of our fellow youthful kunoichis and have a male-shinobi bonding time."

Asuma looked at Gai with a horror expression on his face as the cigarette fell of his open mouth as he spoke, "Gai, do you even know how… weird that sounds!"

"Actually I think it is a brilliant idea!" spoke Kakashi without looking up from his book.

"WHAT!" Asuma shouted completely going wide eyed.

"Yosh! It seems you too are starting to think in a youthful way, my youthful rival!" shouted Gai to which Kakashi cringed.

Asuma finally calmed down as he lighted another cigarette taking a drag of it as he finally spoke after exhaling the smoke, "Kakashi, you can't be serious?"

Kakashi looked up from his book directly at Asuma as he spoke, "I have heard of this bonding session from Sakura… I don't know what exactly they are… but somehow it seemed to help her grow as a kunoichi…."

"Well now that you mention it… Ino won't stop about it", said Asuna as he remembered the times Ino would come from those bonding things and would be more eager for training or missions.

"Even my youthful student Tenten seems to love it", said Gai.

"So I thought it will somehow help our other students would also benefit from such male bonding…" said Kakashi to which the other two nodded "… though it would have done us better if we knew what they actually did."

"Why don't we just ask on of the kunoichis as I am certain they would tell us about what they do during the bonding sessions…" said Gai.

"If it was so simple, we would have already known by now what the girls did…" said Kakashi to which Gai looked a bit defeated.

"Say Kakashi, did you by any chance follow Gai's lead…?" asked Asuma getting the attention of both the fellow jounins on him as both looked at him with a questioning look.

"And what would that be!" asked Kakashi as he felt a little bit of sarcasm in Asuma's voice but found the said jounin's eyes not looking at him.

"Teaching a young one, your fashion sense!" said Asuma as his eyes met his fellow jounins and gestured them to look where he was looking.

Both Kakashi and Gai looked in the direction where Asuma was looking at and for their surprise found that his eyes were fixed on a boy. The boy in question was dressed in a light blue tracksuit with three orange stripes on his sleeves, a mesh undershirt, dark blue trousers and dark calf-length sandals (similar to Namikaze Minato's clothing during his academy years and genin days). As for the facial attributes, the boy had fair skin and had spiky hair which were strikingly similar to the Yondaime Hokage apart from they were red and the bangs framing either side of his face were not as long as the Yondaime's bangs. Apart from that the boy had bright blue eyes which again were similar to that of the Yondaime Hokage while his face below his eyes was hidden by a light blue mask he wore similar to that of Kakashi.

But both Kakashi and Gai knew that the question Asuma asked was just to give them a reason to focus on the red-haired boy. It was simple as both could tell with just a single glance that the boy was trained in the shinobi arts with the way the boy's body movements were. Also there was the fact that the boy was not wearing a hitai-te signifying he was not a shinobi of any of the hidden villages that were here to participate in the Chuunin selection exam as they didn't know of a boy of that description a student of the Konoha ninja academy.

All this warranted an investigation to know who exactly the boy was especially considering the amount of chakra the boy possessed. Neither of the three were sensory-nins but that didn't mean that they were incapable of sensing the amount of chakra one possessed as they were one of the elites of Konoha. So it was quite surprising for the trio to find a boy about the age of their students to possess chakra levels on par with them as there was only one among that age whose chakra levels was on par, no even greater then their level. But the said student was an exception as it was considered to be because of her being the Jinchūriki of Kyūbi no Yōko.

The trio decided that it was better to get to know who the boy was and the best way was a direct approach. But as they walked towards the boy, they watched him remove a piece of paper from his pocket which they recognized it to be the tourist map of Konoha when the boy unfolded it. They watched as the boy's eyes searched the map for something and when his found what he was searching for his eyes started to sparkle as they could feel him grinning behind his mask. Somehow they couldn't help but feel that the facial expression of the boy currently resembled that of the resident pervert of Konoha and they were not thinking of Kakashi.

They watch the boy take the right alley which led to one of Konoha's tourist spot which was rather favored by travelers who visited Konoha. But the jounin trio could tell that the boy didn't intend to visit the place for reasons a normal tourist would visit the place.

"Should we follow him?" asked Gai to his fellow jounins.

"Yes…" said Asuma as he took another drag of his cigarette "… but it would be wise to keep some distance from the boy."

Kakashi agreed but added his two cents as he said, "A rather long and safe distance, I would suggest."

The three jounins nodded to each other and vanished in smoke indicating the use of Shunshin no jutsu.

…With the Super Pervert Jiraya…

Currently hiding in one of the trees close to one of the most famous bath house of Konoha was Jiraya – member of Konoha's Densetsu no Sannin (Legendary Three Ninja) and the Gama Sennin (Toad Sage). Jiraya was using a small telescope to spy on the kunoichis as he had heard that there was going to be some sort of gathering of them at the onsen. He had heard this as he heard a couple of young kunoichis talk about it as he had come to the village to meet his godchild before she entered the chuunin selection exams for the first time.

Normally despite his reputation as a super pervert, Jiraya avoided spying on the bath houses/onsen here in Konoha as the place consisted of three fearsome women who had some sort super senses to hunt him down as he would be busy in his research. One was his former teammate and just like him a member of the Densetsu no Sannin and famed as Konoha no Namekuji Tsunade-hime (Konoha's Slug Princess Tsunade) – Senju Tsunade and the other two being the wife and daughter of the current Hokage. But today was one of the days when he disregarded his inner voice which screamed him to stay away from the bath house as not only was there a gathering of kunoichis of various age but also Tsunade herself was going to be there. Thus even if Shinigami was to come to earth to take away his soul, he would fight the death god until he got the view of the wonderful, beautiful and gigantic breasts of Tsunade.

This spot and the telescope in his hands were giving him a great view of the onsen. Though Tsunade hadn't yet arrived at the bath house but still there were others like the likes of Yuuhi Kurenai, Mitarashi Anko, Uzuki Yuugao, Inuzuka Tsume and some others which he didn't recognize which made it worthwhile. Also there were other girls who were around the age of his godchild whom he just glanced once thinking that they would one day grow into beautiful kunoichis and nothing more.

Suddenly he felt an unknown but a powerful chakra signature close by him. His eyes travelled to the source of the chakra signature to find a red-haired boy around the age of his godchild crouched on the other branch of the tree. The said boy was holding a binocular to his eyes as he watched the same wonderful view which he was watching. Even with the mask hiding the remaining of the boy's facial features, Jiraya could tell that the boy sported a huge grin on his face. He decided to go confront the fellow pervert and also educate such a young one in the true art of perverts as he jumped next to the boy.

"Hello there, young one!" said Jiraya as he placed a hand on the boy's shoulder startling the boy as the boy turned his head quickly at Jiraya as the he tried to hide the binoculars behind him with a small fearful look.

Jiraya was completely taken back as he stared in the bright blue eyes of the boy which were so similar to his student an also shined with the same intensity. Now that Jiraya took a better look at the boy, he couldn't help but notice the startling similarities the boy had with his student. It was not just the eyes as the blonde wore an almost similar outfit like Minato when he was a genin and also his spiky hair was structured in the similar way as Minato apart from it being bright red and the he bangs framing either side of his face reached his ears and not his jaws.

"Say old man, you wouldn't be handing me to the girls down there, would you?" Jiraya heard the boy ask with a small bit of fear in his voice breaking him out of his thoughts.

"No, young one! I am not here to hand you to those beautiful ladies down there but rather I am here to teach you the art of perverts", said Jiraya.

But before he could say any further or hear the response of the boy, his instincts told him of the arrival of Tsunade in the onsen. He quickly used his telescope to spy on the onsen and as always his instincts about Tsunade didn't fail him. From his telescope he watched Tsunade enter the bath house along with the duo of mother and daughter and her apprentice covering their bodies with the bath towels. But the moment Tsunade had entered the bath house he lost interest in the girls and the women in the bath house as she was his sole focus. But before he could completely loose his senses viewing the naked beauty of Tsunade, he glanced at the boy next to him and found him to have followed his lead as he was also spying on the onsen with his binoculars. A smile appeared on Jiraya's face as he looked at the boy for a second as the boy would be a perfect apprentice to whom he could pass 'the true art of perverts' as none of his apprentice till date had turned into a pervert like him nor even closet perverts.

With that thought in mind, Jiraya returned his focus back on to spy at the onsen or rather Tsunade to be specific. From his telescope he watched as his former teammate remove the towel and stand there in her complete naked glory feeling the wind. A small trickle of blood left the nose of Jiraya as he looked at the girl he loved and still did in her complete glory. He watched as she entered the hot water and couldn't feel but think that the water that touched her body made her look more beautiful. His eyes then travelled to the most noticeable asset and he was certain that they had grown a few centimetres from the last time he had laid his eyes on them. But before he could bath all of his senses with the sight of the naked Tsunade he was interrupted by the voice of the boy next to him.

"Say old man, aren't you to old to be doing this?" Jiraya heard the boy ask.

Jiraya couldn't believe his ears at what the boy had just said, calling him – the great Jiraya old. It seemed the boy didn't recognize his greatness as of yet and it was time to teach the boy his greatness. He jumped from the branch in the clearing down below and gestured the boy to join him down in the clearing. He heard the boy mutter about stupid old men and their stupid ways before the boy unwillingly joined him in the clearing. It was time to teach the boy to respect his seniors and especially someone as great and awesome as him.

"Boy, do you even have a clue who you are calling old?" asked Jiraya.

Jiraya watched as the boy looked a him from head to toe and then saw his eyes widen which he concluded that the boy finally realized who he had called old and was going to apologize to him an admit his greatness.

"Nope…" the boy said to which Jiraya face faulted "… Who are you?"

Jiraya couldn't believe his luck as the boy seemed completely clueless to his greatness and to be a worse the boy was a fellow pervert and still didn't recognize his awesomeness.

"Alright, hold on!" said Jiraya as he summoned his most faithful of all summons or rather the only one who joined him in his awesomeness – Gama.

Jiraya now stood on top of Gama taking the traditional Kabuki pose along with Gama posing with him as he started with his awesome introduction.

"Thanks for asking! I am Mount Myōboku-Gama's holy master Sennin also known as Gama-Sennin and the member of Konoha's Densetsu no Sannin! I, Jiraya am the epitome of manliness! When you are someone like me, you'll only have to flash the sexiness to have women fall at your feet!"

Jiraya was certainly liked seeing the shocked look of the boy when he started with his introduction but inwardly frowned when the boy's shocked face turned into a look of horror. He didn't want to scare the boy as he intended to take the boy as an apprentice who would follow his legacy becoming the second coming of the Super Pervert Jiraya. He decided to assure the boy that there was nothing to be scared off but before he could assure the boy, he saw the boy's face morph from the scared look into a bored and what-the look.

"So tell me Jiraya-sama, why are we doing this again?" the boy asked with emphasis on the word 'again'.

'What does he mean again!' thought Jiraya as by now Gama had returned back to the village of toads.

But before he could ask the boy what he meant, he heard the snapping of knuckles as his danger senses went on an all time high. Jiraya's head turned in a mechanical fashion towards his right and the sight that he saw drained all the colour of his face. Standing in front of him were all the kunoichis who just moments ago occupied the onsen as their bodies were covered by towels and their face in an expression which said 'you-are-dead'. But that was what not caused his features to pale as it was the trio who were in front of all the kunoichis. The trio consisted of his former teammate Tsunade who was currently cracking her knuckles to deliver to him her super punches, the wife of his student whose bright red hair was flowing wildly around indicating why she was named the Akai Chishio no Habanero (Red Hot-Blooded Habanero) and last but not the least was his godchild who was shaking her head and muttering of how her O-jii-san never learned lessons.

"So Jiraya, I hear that you are the epitome of manliness and women fall at your feet because of you manly charms…" said Tsunade in a sweet voice which sent chills down his spine.

"Now, now, Tsunade, you know I was just…" Jiraya tried to put forth his defense but was interrupted by Tsunade.

"Shut up, Jiraya! But do tell me who the boy is? Your accomplice in the crime…" said Tsunade still retaining the sweet tone in her voice.

But before Jiraya could tell her who the boy was and how he ha come across the boy, the boy spoke for himself.

"I am no accomplice of Jiraya-sama in th… this crime", shouted the boy as he turned towards the group of kunoichis with a red face.

Jiraya couldn't again believe that the boy called such a delicate art which even he was practicing a crime. Also he didn't miss the small gasps that left the mouth of Tsunade and Kushina as he turned towards them to find them staring at the boy with wide eyes. He also noticed that they were not the only ones who looked shocked as other kunoichis/women who were around the age of Kushina and were friends with her were also staring at the boy with a bit of curiosity.

Now that Jiraya thought about it, the boy just didn't resemble his student – Minato but also had startling resemblance with his student's wife Kushina. The boy had bright red hair just like her and also the shapes of their eyes were strikingly similar. If only he could see the remaining face of the boy which he hid behind the mask and somehow find out that he boy had dyed his blonde hair red then he would say that it was 'him'.

But it was not right to again draw conclusions as Jiraya knew well enough that 'he' was dead. Though neither he nor Minato, Kushina and Tsunade on subconscious level believed that 'he' was dead but they had buried his small body and had come in terms with his loss in their lives. He watched as it was both of them somehow calmed themselves before Tsunade spoke again.

"So you are not the pervert's accomplice! Then do tell me, what are you doing here?" asked Tsunade in the same sweet voice she spoke till now.

"It was because of Jiraya-sama…" said the boy with fear in his tone as he pointed at Jiraya.

Jiraya's jaws dropped as his eyes narrowed at the boy's statement as he thought 'what the! How is it because of me?'

It seemed like everyone kunoichi shared his opinion as Tsunade asked, "How so!"

"I… I saw him as I was passing by one of Konoha's street (pointing at Jiraya). After looking at him for a couple of seconds I recognized him to be one of the members of the Densetsu no Sannin – Jiraya. So I went and asked him for an autograph but he went on to do some stupid introduction dance and told me since I recognized his greatness he would teach me something awesome instead of an autograph. Though he looked a bit, you know stupid as he did that introduction but still he is the great Jiraya and so I couldn't refuse it as I got to learn something from him. And this is the place he brought me for my first lessons", said the boy with a small fearful tone.

Jiraya was wide-eyed by the end of the little reasoning the boy gave for him being present here. All of it was a complete lie with a capital L. But with the way the boy spoke the lie so fluently, he was certain that if he didn't know the truth or it wasn't about him then he sure would have believed it. And now looking at all the kunoichis, he could tell that all had bought the boy's little story as it was either the words of the self-proclaimed/well known Super Pervert Jiraya who was not allowed to speak against an innocent and scared looking boy.

"Jiraya! To take advantage of a boy's innocence and make him join your crime of peeping on women…" growled Tsunade as she punched him in the guts.

The punch by Tsunade was followed by the worst beating he had received so far in his marvelous life for peeping on women. He didn't know how long the beating lasted but was sure that it must have been an hour since they found him and the boy. Only one positive thing happened in the beat-down was that the younger-generation-kunoichis stayed out of it out of respect and it was also right of them to stay out since he was certainly not spying on them. Maybe in a few years when they would grow old enough as all of them showed signs of being beautiful kunoichis in the future.

…With the Jounin trio…

The trio of Kakashi, Asuma and Gai watched the beatings that Jiraya-sama was receiving with pity for the great man and also a small amount of fear watching the fury of women especially kunoichis. The trio was currently hiding behind a tree at a safe distance from the scene as to not be labeled perverts. They had arrived at the place following the red-haired boy who had avoided a beating from those kunoichis in a real smart way as he forced the blame on Jiraya-sama.

"We better leave before someone senses us", said Asuma to which the other two agreed and used Shunshin to get the hell out of there.

…Back with the Super Pervert Jiraya…

"So tell me boy what are you doing here in Konoha? As I am certain I have not seen you around in Konoha?" Jiraya who was half conscious heard Tsunade ask the boy.

Jiraya also wanted to know who the boy was since the boy had amazingly avoided his share of beatings albeit he was the one who took the whole blame and beatings. But still to survive and that to without a single scratch after spying on kunoichis/women/girls in the onsen and later being caught by the said kunoichis/women/girls had earned he boy respect in Jiraya's eyes. So he was also curious to who the boy was.

"Oh! I am a ronin! I am here to take part in the chuunin selection exams!" said the boy which garnered interests of the kunoichis especially the younger-generation who was also going to participate in the said exams.

"Oh shit! And again I got side tracked with my main objective!" the boy shouted as he palmed his forehead with his right palm to which all sweat dropped.

So finally Jiraya got some info on the boy and as he had concluded the boy was certainly a ninja but he couldn't tell which country he belonged to as he wore no hitai-te. But the boy being a wandering ninja piqued his interests in the boy more since unlike the past at the founding of hidden villages the number of ninjas not affiliated to a certain village or clan had decreased greatly and especially now-a-days there were hardly any present.

"Ahhh! I should leave! I have to go register myself!" the boy shouted as he put his hands in the Hitsuji (Ram) seal.

"Wait!" said Kushina to the boy to which the boy obliged.

Jiraya was surprised to hear Kushina for the first time in the last hour since they had been found out also she seemed a lot calmer in today after finding him peeping on women. At first he thought it was because she let Tsunade handle the situation but bow hearing her ask the boy to wait he got a clue at her behaviour till now. She just like him and Tsunade were shocked seeing the boy but for her it had gone beyond that as the boy resembled her son. Jiraya remembered how she had been broken at that night seeing the corpse of her child. She had somehow pulled herself back from depression from sheer willpower for her daughter's wellbeing and slowly over the years the old Kushina resurfaced hiding the pain of losing one of the twins in the depth of her heart. After she had recovered from her depressed state, she was the one who believed the most that her child was still alive somewhere in this world.

"At least tell us your name…" said Kushina sounding calm but Jiraya could tell and he knew so could Tsunade and some others that it was a desperate attempt of a mother to know who the boy in front was.

"AH! I forgot to introduce myself…" the boy said as he scratched the back of his head and even with the mask on everyone could tell that he had a stupid/sheepish grin on his face.

"The names Naruto, -ttebayo!" said the boy which froze three people in their spot while most didn't seem to care much apart from a few who knew how much that name mattered to those three.

Jiraya just stared at the boy with wide eyes as so did Tsunade and Kushina as to not only the boy had so much similarities to Minato and Kushina but also the boy seemed to have a personality like that of Kushina. And of all was the part was that the boy's name was Naruto and also he used a verbal tic similar to Kushina furthering their doubts.

"I should take my leave! I don't want to be late in submitting the forms!" said the boy as Jiraya could detect nervousness in the boy's voice as he saw the two women staring at him in a shocked face as he boy used Shunshin no Jutsu to move out of the clearing.

"Naruto!" Jiraya heard Kushina mutter from his spot as a small tear left her right eye.

Jiraya saw Tsunade walk close to Kushina as she placed a hand on her shoulders and whispered something into her ears which caused a smile to appear on the face of the mother.

…Later that evening at the Hokage Tower…

Today was one of the busiest days for the Hokage of Konoha as there was only a week left for the bi-annual chuunin selection exams especially because it was their turn to host the exams. Today he had made the news of the exams official to the jounins of Konoha who had a genin team and had asked them which of them were going to nominate their teams for the exams. Also surprisingly most of the teams that had decided to participate in the exams had arrived today of which h was currently holding registration form of three specific teams. First was a team from Otogakure no Sato (Village Hidden in Sound) which by Jiraya's information network was believed to be a village linked to Orochimaru. The second one was a team from Sunagakure no Sato (Village Hidden in the Sand) composed entirely of the three children of the Kazekage of which one was he Jinchuuriki of the Ichibi no Shukaku (One-Tailed Shukaku). The last was the only team from Iwagakure no Sato (Hidden Stone Village) signifying the peace talks between the two countries were heading in a positive direction.

Finally setting those three folders down, the Hokage looked at the remaining team folders and tried to judge who looked a good and capable team and candidates for the exams. Finally examining each of the folders of the participating teams his eyes laid upon a folder which was labeled 'Ronin'. This surprised the Hokage a bit as the last he remembered of a team of ronin participating in a chuunin selection exam was when he had just received the rank of a chuunin and was asked to look on the preparations of the exams. As he remembered the team didn't do much good and was forced to forfeit in the team survival trial because of the death of one of their teammate. Putting that incident at the back of his mind, he focused back on the folder which was in his hand which he felt was very thin compared to all the other folders.

He opened the folder to find a recommendation letter from the Wasabi Family of Cha no Kuni (Land of Tea). He had heard from one of the information sources that a ronin who was traveling by the country had helped the Wasabi Family to gain ownership of the Degarashi Port. The ronin had helped the Wasabi Family's runner in the Todoroki Shrine Race against that of the runner of Wagarashi Family who had used help of some nuke-nins to win the race. And it seemed the ronin who was participating was the same ronin who helped the Wasabi Family as the letter spoke highly of him. He then checked the registration form of the team and was surprised as the form only had detailed of one ronin. In case of ronin, they were allowed to participate in a team of three or two and even alone as sometimes ronin worked alone.

But there was something else that had surprised the leader of the village which was considered strongest of the five great hidden villages was the info of the boy. Looking at the photo of the boy, at one glance he could tell the resemblance the boy shared with him and his wife. The boy had his eye colour but the shape of his eyes resembled that of his wife while it was the opposite with his hair. The remaining part of his face was covered with a light blue mask and even than he could tell he boy was grinning behind it as he showed the victory sign. Also the surprising part was that the boy's name was Naruto and he was the same age as his daughter.

Namikaze Minato lay back on his chair as a huge sigh was released from his mouth. The boy resembled his deceased son greatly as he thought his boy would look similar to the boy in the picture with only difference would be he would have blonde hair.

"I just hope Kushina doesn't meet the boy…" said Minato to no one on particular.

The trauma his wife had gone after the death of their child and the only reason she was able to be back like the old times because she had him and their daughter to look after. But even now he knew she had not forgotten about him as she sometimes cried in his arms remembering about him.

**Well, I adopted this story from ruto-kun-nata-chan as he is going to rewrite it, while I'm going to keep the same format and do some editing. Basically Naruto will still have the sage mode inborn and very high regeneration along with the usage of ranton or storm style. However he will also have control over the chakra chains (the process of which they are gained will be revealed later on) as well as being a seals master. He will also have everything of the Uzumaki's possessions along with 2 summons. He won't be a lot overpowered but one has to recognize that the training schedule he endured when he was a child was for a child in the warring states not for a child inside a village. (2 eras clashing together people.!)**

**Zalz out :3**


	2. Chapter 2

It had been two days since Naruto entered Konoha and in the past two days all his image of a hidden village had been shattered to pieces. Konoha was not like the other two hidden villages he had visited… no, rather infiltrated in the past couple of years. But seeing that the time he had infiltrated the two villages, the villages were going through problems of their own which ranged from disputes between Kage and the Daimyō or a civil war. Still, he had envisioned a hidden village to be… how was he to say it… well hidden… and with ninjas moving from rooftop to rooftops around the village patrolling the village 24x7.

Konoha was certainly not anything like that. If it wasn't for their ninja attire and the way they carried themselves, Naruto was certain that he wouldn't be able to differentiate between the civilians and ninjas. He had learned of a few things of Konoha while he wandered around the elemental nations and even more from the old man, but to see it with his own eyes was something else. If it wasn't for the barriers, seals and the ninjas patrolling the walls of the village, he would never dream of calling Konoha a hidden village. But all things aside, it was certainly refreshing to finally visit the village.

Currently he was heading to a place which had come to be his most favorite place of all the places he had come across so far in all his wanderings. He had come across the place after he had submitted his registration form for the chuunin selection exams or rather he was drawn to the place by the sweet aroma of the god's food emitted from a nearby restaurant. And as always his nose didn't disappoint him as the place served the best tasting god's food he had eaten so far through his journey. Also to add to the god's food was the beautiful, curvaceous and brown-haired-eyes waitress that served the god's food adding a charm to the place.

Naruto was so much immersed in the thoughts of the god's food and the charming waitress that worked at the restaurant that he was completely oblivious to the world around him. He was so oblivious to his surroundings that he completely missed the brown haired, long blue scarf wearing 8-9 years old brat running directly towards his direction from his left. He only noticed the boy when finally the boy who also seemed oblivious to the path in front of him as the boy dashed pass him missing him by a few inches only to crash into someone else.

"Ouch"

"That hurts…"

…A few minutes earlier…

Uzumaki-Namikaze-Ran was currently making her way to meet her best friend/sister (only not in blood) Hyuuga Hinata. Just moments ago Kakashi-sensei had handed the team the application forms to enter the chuunin selection exams that were going to be held in Konoha in the next five days. Being the daughter of the Yondaime, she already knew that it was almost unheard of a rookie gennin team who has just passed out of the academy to enter the exams. But her team was not an ordinary team… heck, all the three teams of her graduating class who passed their jounin-sensei's test were not ordinary.

She just like her teammate Sakura was a bit nervous about the exams, but unlike Sakura it was neither because she doubted her skills nor she thought that she wasn't ready to take part in the exams but it was rather because of her excitement of finally stepping a step further towards her dream. Her dream was something which she inherited from her parents but mostly her mother and that was to one day succeed her father as the first female Hokage. It was not just the dream of being she inherited from her mother but also she was a chibi version of her mother or rather she looked similar to her mother when she was her age with the only difference was her blonde hair of the shade similar to her father and the whisker marks on her cheeks. She even wore attire similar to her mother when she was genin which consisted of short sleeve, kimono-like plain blouse with dark embroidered border with loose sleeves held close with a dark obi, a dark skirt and stockings that stopped at her thighs. And that is where her similarity to her mother ended as personality wise she was her father's daughter, she was calm and collected unlike her mother who happened to be a tomboyish girl when she was her age.

Finally she reached the meeting place which she had decided with Hinata and found her friend to be waiting there. She waved at her waiting friend and made her way towards her, but only to stop in her steps as she felt someone or rather a group of three dashed past her. One glance at those three and she easily recognized them as Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon. She didn't know what those three were running from so desperately but she knew one thing and that being the trio or at least Konohamaru was going to crash into the red-hair guy whom she recalled to be Naruto from the onsen incident two days back. She was about to call them to stop before they crash into the boy but didn't as she watched them miss him just by a few inches. But it seemed like luck was not on the side of the three academy students as she watched Konohamaru crash into someone else a few steps further from the red-haired boy. But she had to quickly rush to the boy's aide as she watched the person he crash into lift him by his scarf up to his face level.

…Back to the present time with Naruto…

Naruto had seen that the three who dashed pass him were kids around the age of 8-9 and also the trio seemed to be in some kind of hurry, either they were late for something or running from someone/thing. Though the brats were lucky enough to not crash into him but at the same time weren't lucky enough to avoid another passerby. Before he could turn his head in the direction where the brats crashed into someone, he turned his head to his left as he heard a girl shout someone's name.

"Konohamaru-kun!"

Naruto watched as two cute girls around his age, one with long blonde hair while the other with short, hime-cut, dark blue hair dash pass him. He clearly remembered the two from the onsen incident two days back but he quickly cut their images of his mind for the time being as he decided to figure what was going on seeing the angry look on the blonde's face. He turned his head in the direction which the girls ran at or rather the place where the brats crashed into some passerby. But the person of the brat crashed into and was now holding by his scarf was Kankurou and by his side stood his elder sister Temari which caused a mischievous grin to spread across Naruto's face.

…Normal point of view…

"That hurt you little piece of shit!" said Kankurou hoisting the boy who crashed into him by his scarf.

"Don't, we'll get yelled at later", Temari warned Kankurou as she watched her brother bullying a kid.

"Konohamaru-kun!" both the siblings heard someone shout.

They turned in the direction of the voice to find two girls rush towards them with the blonde girl looking a bit angry. Both the siblings could make out that the two were probably genins of Konoha. But Temari was able to recognize something which her stupid brother to notice was that one of the girls matched the description of the daughter of the Yondaime Hokage.

"Unhand Konohamaru-kun, Suna-nin!" said Ran as she stood few feet away from the Suna-nin in a calm tone with a small tone of anger in her voice.

"Ran-nee-chan! Hinata-nee-chan! " called the two other kids.

Temari's eyes widened as she heard the name the other two kids shouted as she thought 'Ran… So I was right! She is the daughter of the Yondaime Hokage! I hope you don't do anything…'

"What if I don't?" asked Kankurou in an arrogant voice.

"Kankurou don't? That's…" Temari tried to say something to Kankurou but was interrupted by her brother.

"Don't worry sis, I have everything under control…" said Kankurou to Temari.

Kankurou watched as the blonde Konoha kunoichi was now holding a kunai in her right hand while the dark blue haired kunoichi took a defensive taijutsu stance. But the two were no longer alone as they were joined by another blonde and a pink haired girl.

"What's going on here, Ran?" Ino asked her fellow blonde kunoichi.

Instead of answering Ino's question, Ran tightened the grip on the kunai as she glared at the cat-suit Suna-nin as she spoke in a threatening voice, "Unhand him!"

"To threaten me! You got some guts, girl!" said Kankurou with a mad grin on his face.

'What's with that guy…?' thought Sakura as she started to sweat seeing the grin on the Suna-nin's face.

But before things could escalate any further between the two parties, something struck the right hand of Kankurou making him drop Konohamaru, who unceremoniously fell on his butt. The thing that forced Kankurou to remove his hold on the brat was a stone as the said brat rushed towards his friends and Ran.

"What are you bastards doing in our village?" everyone heard someone say and looked at the source of the voice to find Uchiha Sasuke sitting on a branch of a nearby tree juggling some rocks.

"Sasuke-kun!" cried/chirped/screeched Sakura and Ino together seeing their knight in shining armour present at the scene.

"Show-off!" muttered Ran as she already knew that her third teammate was already present in the area and waited for the right time to make his presence known.

Both Hinata and Temari shared the same opinion as Ran, though Hinata also was thankful of him for saving Konohamaru-kun. As of Kankurou, the boy was currently glaring at the Uchiha as he held onto his right hand which was struck by the stone.

"Get lost!" Sasuke said as he glared back at the boy who was glaring at him.

"Kyaa! So cool! Get him Sasuke-kun!" chirped/screeched Sakura and Ino with eyes for their eyes while the kunoichis present there shook their head in disgust at the two fan girl kunoichis.

"Hey punk, get down here!" called out Kankurou directly facing the Uchiha. He just intended to have a little by bullying the brat who crashed in him and also bully those weak looking kunoichis, but now he was pissed.

"I hate show-offs like you the most", said Kankurou as he loosened the bandage which kept the bandaged Karasu (Crow) on his back bringing it in front of him to teach the duck-butt a lesson.

"Hey, you even going to use Karasu?" asked a panicked Temari to Kankurou as the situation seemed to be getting out of hand.

"Kankurou stop it."

Everyone heard the voice which sent a chill down their spine, especially because of the killer intent that washed over the area which was accompanied by the voice. All eyes traveled to the source of the voice to find a boy with brick-red hair and a gourd on his back hanging upside down on a branch of the same tree as Sasuke bu on the other side with help of chakra.

"You are an embarrassment to our village", said Gaara as he focused his killing intent on Kankurou which froze the boy in his steps.

Of all the genins present there, the minds of Ran and Sasuke calculated the sudden appearance of the brick-red haired boy. Both had come to one conclusion and that was the boy was someone to be watched during the exams as the boy showed Kakashi's level sneakiness.

Gaara took no notice of the stares and fear he had generated in the people in the clearing as he focused on Kankurou as he spoke, "Loosing yourself in a fight, how pathetic… Why do you think we came to Konoha?"

Finally Kankurou was able to speak as he quickly tried to defend his situation, "Listen Gaara, they started it and…"

"Shut up… I'll kill you…" said Gaara focusing a large dose of killing intent on his brother.

The dose of killing intent made Kankurou to start shivering along with causing him to sweat heavily as he somehow spoke, "Ok, I'm sorry…"

Temari also spoke to Gaara to try and defuse the situation between her younger brothers, "Look, Kankurou is sorry… I am also sorry… really…"

But Temari didn't get to finish her sentence as she watched her youngest brothers eyes glow with a murderous intent. It was not only her that saw that look, but only she and Kankurou truly understood that look which said that the Shukaku wanted blood. Both the siblings were frozen in their place as they watched the cork on the gourd to disintegrate into sand and sand shoot out of the gourd in their direction.

Ran watched with wide eyes as she watched the sand approach the two Suna-nins at a very high speed. She could tell that the boy who was named Gaara had every intention of killing the other two if the look in his eyes was anything to go by. She quickly started forming hand seals for one of the defensive jutsus she had knowledge of to interrupt the sand before it killed the two Suna-nins. She had no obligation to defend the two Suna-nins, but it was her conscious that had forced her to defend them because those three Suna-nins were siblings. Someone who had lost her twin brother at a young age and always wondered what having a brother actually felt like couldn't let siblings kill each other.

But to the shock of everyone present, especially Temari and Kankurou and relief of Ran (who was halfway through her seals) the sand shot pass the two Suna-nins.

"Sabaku Kyū (Sand Binding Coffin)!" everyone heard Gaara say as they watched the sand bind an invisible figure on the wooden wall behind the Suna siblings.

Finally the invisible figure that had been captured in the sand became visible or rather it was just his face which was visible to all. The Suna siblings along with the kunoichis of Konoha recognized the one caught in the sand.

'Him!' thought the four Konoha kunoichis with a small blush on each of their face.

"Him! This is bad!" thought the scared Kankurou and Temari.

"Sabaku Sōsō (Sand Burial)!", Gaara said.

Everyone watched in horror as the sand that was engulfing the boy suddenly crush him to death. But to the surprise of Temari and Kankurou instead of a fountain of blood flow out of the sand, a blast of lightning occurred with arcs of lightning sweeping the clearing forcing everyone to dodge the small bolts of lightning.

"My, aren't you eager to kill me Gaara!"

Everyone heard the new voice and turned towards it source, only to find the boy who was seconds ago crushed beneath the sand prison standing upside-down on the same branch next to Gaara. Even with the mask on his face, everyone could tell that the boy had a huge grin on his face beneath that mask.

'Damn! First the guy with the gourd… then this red haired, masked guy… I couldn't detect both…' thought Sasuke as he glared at the two boys who occupied the branch on the opposite side of the tree.

Inwardly Naruto sighed in relief for making a Raiton: Kage Bunshin (Lightning Release: Shadow Clone) for a Kawarimi if needed since he already predicted of Gaara being close by… and as he predicted, the moment the fellow red haired sensed him, he directly went for the kill.

"You wouldn't want to be disqualified even before the exams starts…" said Naruto as he watched Gaara's sand closing on him to engulf him for the second time in the day.

Naruto watched as those words surprisingly calmed Gaara as the sand receded back in the gourd, though he was still the focus of Gaara's killing intent. Naruto watched as Gaara used Shunshin to appear in between his siblings but still kept his killing intent focused on him.

"It looks like we got here too early but we didn't come here to play around. Let's go", said Gaara appearing in between his siblings his eyes still focused on Naruto.

"Hey, wait!" Sakura called out to the Suna-nins to the surprise of everyone present.

"What?" asked Gaara as he turned around to look at Sakura.

"Judging from your hitai-te, you guys are ninjas from Sunagakure right? You may be allies with Konoha but… It is forbidden for shinobi to enter each other's village without permission. State your purpose. Depending on it, we may not be able to let you go…" said Sakura making an intimidating (?) face.

"Don't you know anything?" Temari said clearly unaffected by the scary look on Sakura's face as she showed her pass to all "… You're right, we are genins from Sunagakure. We have come to your village to take the chuunin selection exams."

But before anyone could say anything further, Gaara spoke as he turned towards Naruto, "Are you entering the exams too?"

"Yes, I am", answered Naruto with a smile beneath his mask.

"Good! Mother will finally have your blood", said Gaara as he glared at Naruto which sent chills down the spine of the others.

"Before you present my blood to your so called mother…" said Naruto in a serious tone before suddenly disappearing in a burst of speed appearing next to Temari holding her by her waist with his left hand and spoke to her still in a serious tone "… How about I take you out on a date?"

Despite a visible blush could be seen on Temari's face, the girl somehow composed herself and answered, "No!"

A silence fell in the clearing to the extent they could hear the far away chirpings of birds as they watched the bright-red haired boy hung his head after the Suna girls answer and an aura of depression could be seen around him. But what happened next was something the Konoha-nins didn't expect as the boy disappeared again in burst of speed and reappeared in between Ran, Hinata and Ino with the cheerful expression on his face.

"Well since Temari said no… how about I take one of you three girls on a date with me…" Naruto said to the three surprised girls.

The three girls looked at the bright-red haired boy with wide eyes as he stood in between them with a grin behind the mask. Ran could only stare at the boy in utter disbelief. She had not sensed him move in between them and above all the boy was flirting with them. Hinata's face turned beet red as the boy asked one of them on a date, because she finally remembered the boy from two days back at the onsen. On the other hand, Ino was fighting hard to not say yes as Sasuke was in the vicinity.

"You… You…" muttered Temari as her face turned red because of anger as she clenched her fist tightly to stop herself from overreacting.

Since there was no response from the three girls, so he decided to try his luck further as he spoke, "… Or I could take the three of you on a joint date."

That was the final straw for Temari as she grabbed her Giant Folding Fan and charged at the bright-red haired boy with a war cry, "YOU FLIRT!"

Naruto was able to dodge the still folded Fan as it made contact with the ground where he stood causing a few cracks to appear on the ground. His eyes went wide as he watched Temari unfold her fan in its full glory ready to strike him with one of her deadly wind jutsus.

"I better take my leave…" said Naruto as he performed a half Hitsuji (Ram) hand seal with his right hand and disappeared in burst of speed.

"T… THAT BASTARD!" shouted Temari as she watched him disappear before she could hurt him.

The girls around her watched everything in mild amusement, though they couldn't help but agree with Temari that the boy certainly was a flirt. Meanwhile the three kids were truly afraid of the blonde Suna-nin as they watched her burn in anger and on the other side they were completely awed by the bright-red haired boy.

"If I didn't know better, I would say she is jealous…" muttered Kankurou as he watched his elder sister flare in anger.

"You say something, Kan-chan!" said Temari in a sweet voice as she looked at her brother.

"N… no! Nothing!" said Kankurou as he waved his hands in front of him to shield himself from his sister's wrath.

"Let's go!" said Temari as she walked towards her brothers to which both of them obliged without saying a single word.

"You with the gourd, what's your name?" asked Sasuke after jumping in front of the girls.

Gaara turned around to look into the eyes of the guy who asked him his name. Now that 'he' was here, Gaara had no interest in any other competition, but this boy's eyes were similar to his and he had hit Kankurou with just a stone thus getting Gaara's interest in the boy.

"Sabaku no Gaara…" Gaara finally answered "… I am also interested in your name?"

"It's Uchiha Sasuke…" answered Sasuke with arrogance in his voice as he stared at Gaara who just walked away after hearing his name which angered the Uchiha.

"Who was that other red-haired boy?" asked Ran, though she knew his name, she wished to know more about him since he certainly was skilled and these Suna-nin seemed to know him.

The three Suna siblings stopped in their steps as they heard the question. The Konoha-nins could feel the tension in the air increase with a considerable amount of killing intent being emitted by Gaara.

Flashback…

"Seems like you are not that invincible after all…" Gaara heard his opponent say.

Gaara looked at the boy with bright-red hair, dressed in blue and his face below his eyes covered with a light blue mask. He had been staying in Suna for the past month and was the only boy who showed no fear of him. Today he was asked by his father to capture him, but he was unable as the boy was more skilled than he had predicted. But the biggest thing was that the boy had bypassed his sand defense.

"Heh… not only did I bypass your sand defense, Gaara… but I also succeeded in drawing the crimson blood flowing in your body, -ttebayo!" said the boy pointing at his right hand.

And as the boy said, Gaara could feel and see his blood flow from a cut near his shoulder on his right hand. Not only had the boy been able to hurt him but also had been able to draw his blood.

…End Flashback.

"His name is Naruto…" answered Temari "… And in the Suna Bingo Book he is nicknamed as Hakushoku Raiu no Naruto (Naruto of the White Thunderstorm)…" and with that the three Suna-nins left the clearing leaving behind wide eyed Konoha-nins and the three children.

…That night at the Hokage mansion…

Today was a rather noisy affair at the dinner table in the Hokage mansion. Ran watched in mild amusement as both her godparents start arguing on something stupid again while Shizune-nee-san tried to defuse the argument between the two. Ero-jii-san never learned, just a couple of days ago he was beaten close to his death by Tsunade-baa-chan but still he was sitting there and arguing with her. While waiting for the food which was only going to be served after Dad arrived, she focused on the events of the entire day. Today was mostly uneventful aside from her team receiving the application forms for the chuunin selection exams and meeting the three Suna genins and the ronin. She already knew that her team was going to receive the application forms taking into consideration that her team consisted of the Yondaime Hokage's daughter (her) and the last Uchiha. But the highlight of the day was the encounter with the three Suna-nins and the ronin. She couldn't help but think of the ronin.

Ran was so engrossed in her thoughts that she completely missed the arrival of her father who was accompanied by the Sandaime Hokage. She also completely missed the arrival of the food and was so engrossed in her thoughts that she also didn't respond to them calling to her. She was finally brought of her thoughts as she felt someone shake her.

She looked to her left to find the one shaking her was her mother who looked a bit worried as she asked, "Something wrong, Kaa-chan?"

"We should be the one's asking you that, Ran", she heard her father's voice say.

She looked around the table to find that her father had already arrived along with O-jii-san and the dinner was already served while everyone was busy looking at her. Then it struck her that she was so engrossed in her thoughts that she completely missed the above events.

"Nothing, just thinking", answered Ran feeling a bit embarrassed.

"Hoho… so little Ran finally thinking about…" said Jiraya as a small perverted giggle left his lips which earned him a glare from the women in the room.

"I was not thinking of a boy", shouted a red faced Ran which caused every head turn at her in complete shock.

Than it completely struck to Ran as to what she blurted out as she went onto damage control, "No, I didn't mean that… I mean… I was thinking about the boy… no… I mean he seemed a potential competition in the exams… I mean the incident that happened today…"

One thing Ran knew and that was she wasn't doing a good job explaining herself as she watched Ero-jii-san laughing out loud while Sandaime-O-jii-san and Shizune-nee-chan smiling at her misfortune. But what scared her was the stern look on the face of her parents and Tsunade-baa-chan.

"Explain?" said the three in unison.

Ran took a few deep breaths to compose herself after which she started speaking, "Today after team meeting, I came across a team from Suna which consisted of a girl named Temari and two boys of which one was called Kankurou… I think… and the other was called Gaara…"

"The Kazekage's children!" added Minato as he heard those names.

Ran was surprised to know that information but decided to continue "… And the boy Ero-jii-san fooled to join at the onsen the day before yesterday."

This earned Jiraya glares from the women present in the room while the two men looked a bit confused. Both the men knew of Jiraya had tried to spy on the onsen the day before yesterday after they found his battered and bruised body dragged in the Hokage office by Tsunade. But no one had talked of a boy accompanying Jiraya.

"Boy?" asked the confused Minato.

It was Tsunade who answered Minato's question as she recalled the event when they caught on the pervert peeping on the girls and women in the onsen. The story caused the two Hokages to glare at Jiraya for trying to corrupt the mind of the young generation. Also, just like with the girls and women at the onsen, Jiraya's pleas that the boy was lying to save his own ass fell on deaf ears. Meanwhile the name of the boy caused an unspoken conversation take place between Kushina and Minato as their eyes met, causing a flood of emotions through the eyes of the two which was only the elder shinobis in the room were able to see.

With the adults finally settling down, they made Ran o continue with her story and so she did. She went onto tell them that how she came across Kankurou and Temari which caused a small amount of anger to emit from the Sandaime since he treasured his grandson. After assuring the Sandaime that she and Hinata had everything under control and also the Sandaime believing in her and Hinata's capabilities, she continued her story. She went uninterrupted until the point of the entrance of Gaara, even her jab at Sasuke as the Emo-king only caused a laugh to erupt from Jiraya and giggles from others as they agreed with her at his show-off entrance. She continued to tell her story completely missing the others eyes widen as she said that Gaara intended to kill Naruto, but with some sort of a jutsu the bright-red haired boy survived the brick-red haired boy's sand jutsu which caused he other's to relax. She then told them how Naruto went onto ask Temari first and then her, Hinata and Ino on a date after being rejected by the blonde Suna-nin which caused giggles to escape from Jiraya's lips and tick marks develop on the forehead of the three women. She finally ended her recount of her encounter with the Suna-nins and him by telling them his desperate escape from Temari which caused the audience to giggle and them parting with the Suna-nins.

"So this boy Naruto seems to be acquainted with the children of the Kazekage", said the Sandaime Hokage.

"Yeah, it seems so", added Minato.

"I asked those Suna-nins whether they knew who he was…" said Ran as every eyes turned at her "… It was the Suna kunoichi who answered the question as she said 'his name is Naruto… and in the Suna bingo book he is nicknamed as Hakushoku Raiu no Naruto (Naruto of the White Thunderstorm)'."

This caused the eyes of the three of the women in the room to widen. Though all three of them were active jounins of Konoha, two of them rarely took missions these days while the third hadn't given the recent bingo books much of a glance. While a knowing look crossed the face of the three males in the room as they already knew that piece of information.

…The day of the chuunin selection exams…

Naruto stood in his hotel room which was given to him to say during the period of the chuunin selection exams as one of its participant. He was currently going through his gears for the last time before he made his way towards the Konoha Ninja Academy where he heard the first part of the exams was going to take place. His mind had already processed the possibility of what the first test might be after he was informed of the place where the test was going to take place. For the first time in his life he wished that his Devil's Luck fail him as he had predicted the test to be something which he thoroughly hated.

After finishing his final check-up on his gears and scrolls, Naruto made a straight beeline towards the Academy. As he walked the streets of Konoha, he concluded one thing and that was this was a wonderful place to settle in his old age. At first he was hesitant to visit Konoha after the big information bomb the old man dropped on him and only did so because he had promised him that he would certainly visit Konoha at least once. He had avoided Konoha for more than two years after he promise and only decided to finally visit Konoha this time was because of some disturbing news had reached his ears.

All that things aside, Konoha had the best Ramen Restaurant throughout the elemental nations with a beautiful and curvaceous waitress serving ramen. He had seen that he visited the stand every day in past seven days and could be said that he was on a strict ramen diet. Also Konoha had a lot of beautiful, hot, sexy women/kunoichis which was a super plus factor for Konoha and most of all some really eye catching girls around his age.

Finally he reached the Academy and wasn't surprised to see the mass number of genins in the grounds of the academy doing some light workout. He didn't give them much glance as he made his way directly to the room 301 assigned for the first test. As he walked up the stairs he came across teams from various countries which he had come across the last week. Finally he reached the second floor to find a huge crowd of genins gathered around the room labeled 301. Due to his logic of him climbing only the second floor and his ability with Genjutsu, it was easy for him to predict that there was an area wide Genjutsu spread on the floor and the room. He intended to just walk past the gathered crowd to the real room 301 and he certainly would have left if his duty didn't call him.

Naruto flickered from his position to appear directly behind a falling girl whose long brown hair were worn in Chinese-style buns on either side of her head and halted the girl from falling on the ground. His sudden burst of speed didn't go unnoticed by a few of the shinobis present which also included the girl's teammate.

"You know it isn't wise to block a girl's path… especially someone with skills…" Naruto said the second part in a low voice which only the girl in his arms could hear.

A blush appeared on Tenten's face as she looked back at her unwanted savior, only for her brown eyes to meet with her unwanted saviors bright-blue eyes. But the blush increased the moment her unwanted savior defended her against those disguised genins and was even able to catch on her act.

"What did you say?" asked the spiky haired genin blocking the door. But he didn't wait for any answers as he along with his partner went on to explain how tough these exams are and the role of a chuunin and it was their kindness that they were blocking unworthy genins entering the exam hall.

Naruto already knew that the one blocking the disguised room were doing exactly what they said. Those were probably disguised chuunin proctors trying to decrease the number of genin participant entering the exams. He was about to make his way towards the room 301 but was interrupted as he heard someone opening his big mouth about the genjutsu on the floor and the room. He turned around to find it was the boy who he had seen when he had met Gaara five days back. Even one glance at him that day had made him believe that the boy was an arrogant bastard, but seriously if the boy was doing this to boast his ego then he certainly was going to kick the boy's ass really hard for the increased competition. But his anger towards the duck-butt was cooled a bit when he saw the blonde girl on his team join him in his arrogant speech which surprised him since he didn't peg that girl as arrogant. But their next words caused a smile to appear on his face as he saw the two did the act to boost the confidence of their pink-haired teammate.

As the genjutsu on the floor and the room dissolved, Naruto watched in mild fascination at the spike haired disguised genin and the duck butt moved forward to attack each other by clashing their kick. He was a bit surprised when he found the bun haired girl's teammate who wore a green jumpsuit slide between the two and intercepted their kicks and caught them with his bare fist. The surprise was not because of the bushy-brow boy's speed or his strength, but was because he thought that the team had decided to act to make the other's think they were underdogs or something like that. His thoughts were confirmed when he heard the third member of the team talk with bushy-brows.

"This is certainly interesting…" Naruto said as he watched bushy-brows go and ask the pinky to be his girlfriend in a unique way and a thousand watt smile.

Naruto's words drew the attention of the nearby ninjas and especially those of team 7 excluding Sakura. Naruto oblivious to the stares he was receiving watched as the poor bushy-brows being rejected just for his looks. Naruto watched as the bun-haired girl's third teammate ask the duck butt his name which resulted in an arrogant talk between the two, which made Naruto conclude that both were stuck-up bastards. Even through this little incident he didn't miss the glare which the long-haired arrogant bastard was giving the blonde who just responded with a smile.

"And who might you be?" asked the long-haired arrogant bastard asked looking towards Naruto.

"Who? Me?" asked Naruto pointing at himself and only received a nod from the bastard.

Naruto could feel the arrogance dripping from the boy's actions and words and he had decided to kick the boy's ass with his words. He looked around to find the eyes of every ninja on him and especially that of team 7 and team Gai (he doesn't know their names) and so he decided to make it epic. He had seen this introduction only once before and had dubbed it stupid, but even then he was in a small amount mesmerized by it and it also had it quirks.

"Glad you asked (with a grin behind the mask)… I am the one around whom the winds whirl, lightning shimmers and water dances as I strike with the force of a maelstrom! I am the bringer of storms! I am the valiant Naruto!" Naruto finished his introduction by taking a Kabuki stance similar to the old pervert he met a week ago.

A deadly silence fell on the floor as all the present shinobis watched bright-red haired boy with big sweat drops on their foreheads. But for Naruto the introduction did what it was meant to do and that was to annoy the two stuck-ups as they glared at him with tick marks on their forehead.

Uzumaki-Namikaze Ran watched with a horrified look on her face as she watched Naruto perform his introduction. She was certain that Ero-jii-san had only met the boy once and if this was the consequence of a single meeting, then she didn't want to know what would happen if Ero-jii-san kept stumbling upon the boy. Ero-jii-san always whined about how no one would be following his footsteps of the great novel writer of the thrash which he called literature. She determined her resolve that she would personally see that the boy never again meet Ero-jii-san and if he did, she would be there to straighten her godfather.

Ran was not the only one with a different expression; the other was Lee who was awed by the Naruto's Youthfulness as he shouted it loud for everyone to hear causing more sweat drops on everyone's forehead. Lee's speech of Naruto's Youthfulness would had continued if Tenten who was frozen by the introduction of her unwanted savior jerk herself out of her frozen state to smack Lee shut.

…In the real room 301…

After arriving at the real room 301, Naruto directly went by to stand by an open window which wasn't occupied any team. While he was busy viewing the scenery outside the window, he was completely oblivious to the stares he was receiving from the genins present in the room.

"So, he was indeed telling the truth. He is going to compete in the exams…" Temari said in a low voice to her siblings to which Kankurou just nodded in affirmative "… and seems like he is going to compete as a one man team."

"It's not like he needs help of teammates", responded Kankurou.

Meanwhile a grin had spread across Gaara's lips scaring the people around him as he spoke, "Mother will definitely have your blood this time."

On the other corner of the room the team from Iwagakure watched the bright-red haired boy with raised eyebrows. The reason was because the hitai-te the boy wore on his right shoulder had no symbol indicating that the boy was a ronin.

"What is Konoha thinking letting a ronin enter the exams…? And it also seems that he is participating as a one-man team", said the girl who looked about 15-16 years old with short brown hair and light gray eyes. She wore a purple kimono with pink trims and detached sleeves, a yellow obi, gray stockings and black sandals.

"Well, he does look strong Suzumebachi", said the second member of the team who was large boy with dark eyes and hair that spikes out at the back from underneath his hitai-te which he wore like a bandana. He was wearing red attire which closely resembles the uniform worn by Iwagakure ninjas and in addition wore a yellow scarf around his neck. He looked to be around to be 15 years old.

"Whatever…" said the now identified Suzumebachi.

"… What do you think princess?" Suzumebachi asked the third member of the team who had short, black hair and pupil-less pink eyes. The girl wore a red-coloured, raised collar garment that reached below her stomach region with a full length sleeve on her left arm while sleeves missing, fishnet tights and a skirt over them. She looked around 13-14 years old.

Receiving no response for her question, Suzumebachi turned towards the girl and found her staring at the boy in discussion. A wicked grin spread on her face as she spoke, "I never thought that ever in my life I would get to see the princess eyeing a boy… But I must say princess, you definitely have good eyes. The boy certainly is a looker and that mask adds mystery to him."

This earned Suzumebachi a glare from her pink-eyed teammate as she spoke, "Don't put me in league with you, Suzumebachi… the reason I am looking at the boy is because I am certain that I have seen him somewhere…"

Back with Naruto, the boy was trying to remain calm watching the ever populated streets of Konoha to shake of his nervousness. It wasn't that he was nervous because of his lack of skills… hell, that certainly wasn't the problem… the problem was the room… to be exact, his prediction of what the first test might be seemed to be on the spot so far. He seriously wanted some major distraction at this point or he was going to explode because of nervousness… that certainly wasn't a way to die for a shinobi. He seriously some better distraction than just gazing out of the window… and distraction did come in the form of shouts of two girls.

Naruto turned towards the room's entrance where he found two teams from Konoha of genins around his age with the blonde-ponytailed girl and pinky fighting over the stuck-up emo while the other blonde chatting with the other two boys. Th group of six was joined by another team from Konoha around his age join them and the group of nine continued to chatter/argue oblivious to the stares they were receiving. It was kind of refreshing watching the nine interact oblivious to the world around them. He being a ronin had never given a chance for him to socialize with boys and girls around his age to be friends like those nine and also as a child he had lived a life far away from civilization with the old man. But his eyes suddenly narrowed as h watched a grey-haired, spectacle wearing Konoha-nin around 20 approached the nine making them recognize the place they currently were.

His experience of about three to four years of a shinobi, Naruto had learned to somewhat gauge a ninja's capabilities and that grey-haired Konoha-nin was certainly way stronger than h was letting off with his behaviour. He couldn't exactly tell his skill level, but was certain that the boy didn't belong on this stage and his suspicion was further increased as he heard the teen show the nine his Nin-Info Cards. His suspicion solidified when he heard him say that he had information of every individuals participating in the exams.

…With the rookie nine and Kabuto…

A smirk appeared on Sasuke's face as this Kabuto guy affirmed of having information on individual ninjas participating in the exams as he said, "Gaara of Sunagakure, Rock Lee from Konoha…" he wondered for a second whether he really wanted info on the third but remembering his skills from that day he was forced to say "… and Naruto a ronin."

The rookie nine looked with anticipation at Kabuto for the info of the people that Sasuke called out especially the kunoichis for the info on the last ninja.

"Oh, you know their names, should be easy then", said Kabuto as he swept his hand over his deck of Nin-Info Cards drawing out three cards from it.

"Show me", said Sasuke as excitement could be felt in his voice.

"Ok, first is Rock Lee…" said Kabuto bringing forth Lee's card and went on to tell the nine rookies info on the green-spandex wearing boy. The information consisted from the boy's mission history, his skills and his team.

"Next is Sabaku no Gaara…" said Kabuto bringing forth Gaara's card and then telling the rookies info on the gourd-carrying boy. Just like with Lee, Kabuto told the rookies information on Gaara's mission history and team but not of his skills as he said that was because of him being from a foreign nation.

"… Also it seems he returned from all his missions without even a scratch…" said Kabuto shocking/scaring the rookies and the genins who were also listening on the conversation "… There is only one known incident when Gaara was wounded and that is supposedly marked as classified by the Kazekage."

This surprised the rookies even further, but amidst them a couple started to put the dots together. Meanwhile the Suna genins who were close by listening to the information slightly turned their heads toward the ronin who was participating in the exams the moment the information was brought forth.

"Finally, Naruto…" said Kabuto drawing the attention of the girls and Sasuke while the other boys looked a bit confused.

"… Amazing!" said Kabuto with awe in his voice which caused all the rookies eyebrows to rise.

Kabuto was silent for a couple of seconds after which he finally decided to speak, "There is no info of the boy's origin nor is he affiliated to any known shinobi village…" this surprised a few "… He is going to compete in the exam as a one-man team… But what is the most interesting info on the boy are his Bingo Book listings…" this caused the eyes of the rookies along with the eavesdropping genins eyes to widen "… He is nicknamed as Hakushoku Raiu no Naruto in the Suna Bingo Book and considered a…WH!"

The rookies and Kabuto watched as the Nin-Info Card which contained the info of Naruto was removed out of his hands and found the card to be pinned on the wall behind him by a senbon. It surprised the rookies as none of them had sensed the senbon, but they were further surprised and also shocked as they watched a sealing array appear with the card as the centre with the kanji for 'Fire' appear on the card… and a second later the card caught flames burning down to dust which was blown away by the wind.

"Information is the greatest weapon in the world of shinobis…" the rookies and Kabuto heard someone say and turned towards the source to find Naruto walk towards them with a small smile behind his mask as he twirled a senbon in the fingers of his left hand.

"… Don't you agree with me, Kabuto-san?" asked Naruto completely ignoring the shock of the rookies and the glare of Sasuke.

Kabuto answered after a silence of couple of seconds as he stood up, "Indeed… (Facing the rookies) Konoha, Suna, Taki, Ame, Kusa, Oto, Iwa… Many outstanding genins from the various hidden villages are here to take the exams. Well… Otogakure is a small village crated last year so not much is known about them, but the rest of the hidden villages are filled with talented youngsters."

"So basically… all the people here are…" said a nervous Sakura as she glanced at the bright-blonde haired boy.

"M… makes you lose your confidence… This certainly won't be easy…" said Hinata as she glanced at the entire room with nervousness.

"Nothing is easy…" said Naruto catching the attention of all present genins.

"… You just give it your best and never give up…" said Naruto with a smile behind his mask as he looked at Hinata which caused her to turn crimson red as she nodded in agreement while the others looked at the scene in mild amusement.

…With the Iwa team…

Suzumebachi's jaws were currently hitting the floor while her eyes had widened about the size of dinner plates. No words were forming on her lips as she heard the small amount of info about the bright-red haired ronin.

"So that's why he looked familiar…" said Kurotsuchi making her teammates head turn towards her "… I have seen his picture in the recent Bingo Books of Sunagakure and Kirigakure."

…Back with the rookies, Kabuto and Naruto…

"… And if you still feel nervous, then let it all out", said Naruto as he then faced the room full of genins confusing the rookies and causing a look of dread cause Ran's eyes.

"The names Naruto! I won't lose to you bastards, -ttebayo!" shouted Naruto as he pointed at the class filled with genins.

The eyes of the rookies were widened at the display of the supposedly Bingo Book shinobi. But none of their eyes were widened as that of Ran, for a split second she had seen a shadow of her mother's younger self stand besides the boy daring the class full of genins.

"That always feels nice", said Naruto with a huge grin on his face as he turned towards the stunned rookies.

…With the other genins in the room…

"He might have grown stronger from the last time we saw him, but he certainly hasn't matured", said Temari as she looked at Naruto with a small smile on her face.

"It's not that he hasn't matured, he is just plain stupid", deadpanned Kankurou which caused a giggle escape Temari's lips.

"He is certainly strong, but also… immature", Kurotsuchi muttered looking at the bright-red haired ronin, while Suzumebachi just looked at the boy with wide eyes.

"To be listed in Bingo Books, he certainly is strong…" said Neji as he looked at Naruto.

"… And he is very spirited", said Lee with a grin on his face.

"And also handsome", muttered Tenten with a small blush on her face to which her team looked at her with wide eyes.

…Back with the rookies, Naruto and Kabuto…

Some of the rookies seriously doubted that the boy in front of him was a ninja capable of being registered in a Bingo Book after his outright challenge to all as they didn't know whether to call it an act of stupidity or bravery.

But things were different with Naruto as he sensed an incoming attack in their direction. It was not just him who sensed the incoming attack as so did Kabuto. Both of them turned around to find a Oto-nin with spiky, dark hair jump in air using one of the benches as a leverage and hurl a couple of kunais at them which the two easily dodged. Naruto watched as a second Oto-nin appeared in front of Kabuto whose face was covered completely in gauze only leaving his left eye uncovered and with a strange device on his left arm.

It seemed to Naruto that the focus of attack of the Oto team was Kabuto. He watched with interest as the Oto-mummy-nin swing his left arm in the face of Kabuto, which the elder boy dodged with ease. While all looked amazed at the reaction time of Kabuto for dodging the attack, Naruto felt disturbance in the air between Kabuto and the Oto-mummy-nin which made him narrow his eyes. And as he wondered the reason for the disturbance of air between the two ninjas, his eyes widened as he watched the glass of Kabuto's glasses crack and fall.

The rookies were surprised seeing the glass on the glasses of the elder genin as they wondered how had that happened even after he elder genin dodge. They were further surprised as they watched the elder genin throw up. They were not the only ones who were surprised by this as the entire room of genins stared at the Oto-nins sanding in front of the elder genin wondering what exactly had happened as the Oto-nin spoke of their awesomeness.

"Idiots!" muttered Naruto as he looked at the Oto-nins as they speaking of their awesomeness to Kabuto. He had figured out the secret behind whatever jutsu the mummy-nin used seconds after the glass on the glasses of Kabuto cracked and fell. It certainly was an inventive jutsu and certainly would be an ace in the hole, but according to him it was arrogant of them to show off the jutsu even before the exam begin. Speaking of the exams a large booming sound was heard throughout the room.

"Quite down you worthless bastards!"

Naruto watched with a large boom and huge amount of smoke a huge number of Konoha shinobis appeared in the front side of the classroom. The head of the group proctors who began to talk introduced himself as Morino Ibiki, the examiner for the chuunin selection exam's first test.

…At the Hokage's mansion…

He group of five consisting of Minato, Kushina, Tsunade, Jiraya and Hiruzen were all seated around a crystal ball through which they were viewing the happenings inside the exam room 301 by the use of Tōmegane no Jutsu (Telescope Technique). Normally the first exams of the chuunin selection exams wouldn't have garnered the interest of the top five shinobis of Konoha, but seeing that one of the participants was a daughter of two of them and goddaughter of other two, while the fifth and the eldest consider her as a granddaughter.

The atmosphere in the room was a mixture of both happiness and sadness as they watched the happenings in the room 301. They had watched all the events that unfolded in a span of few minutes from the moment Ran and her team entered the room until Ibiki entered the room. The reason for the contrast of atmosphere in the room was the ronin Naruto, the similarities between the boy and Kushina were hard to ignore any longer. The boy had been observed since the day Ran talked of him at dinner where Minato learned that Kushina already met the boy and his actions just kept on reminding them of a young Kushina.

"It is certainly him, Minato…" said Kushina with tears flowing down her eyes as she faced her husband.

"But Kushina-kun, you were the first and the last person to hold his body that day", said Sarutobi which caused a sad look appear on everyone's face.

"I… I know… b… but… it's just… every time I see him… I… I want to hold him like I hold Ran close to me…" said Kushina in between her sobs as Minato held her closer to him.

"I understand, Kushina-kun! The similarities between you two jus can't be denied!" said Sarutobi as he gazed in his crystal ball with a smile on his face.

"Yep! Definitely Kushina!" said Tsunade as she watched the said boy ducked in a corner of the room with a aura of depression over his head and cursing his luck as he heard that the first test was a paper test which caused chuckle to escape every lips except Kushina who looked a bit embarrassed.

TO BE CONTINUED…


	3. Chapter 3

The Second Test…

…Naruto's Point of view…

Standing in front of the closed gates of Practice Arena 44 or as the proctor so lovingly called it 'Forest of Death', the place where the second test was going to be held, Naruto looked completely bored as he eyed the creepy looking forest. He could clearly see that most of the chuunin hopefuls were clearly scared by the creepiness of both the forest and the proctor of this exam. Even he couldn't fault others of thinking of the forest being creepy as it did give an aura of creepiness and danger, but he certainly had an objection of others thinking of the proctor as a creepy one as her creepiness had a certain level of charm to it adding to her sexiness.

Now that looking at all the remaining competition, he felt a bit silly about his little outburst against the proctor of the first exam. That scar faced proctor was grating on his nerves as he played his little mind game against the genins before asking the tenth question. But when he had decided to confront the proctor in hopes the man would stop his mind games and get on with the final questions in hope of leaving the examination hall as soon as possible, he had no idea that his outburst would have an effect of installing courage in the hearts of others to stay put in their seats and pass the exam. A total of 30 teams along with him had passed the first part of the exam which according the second proctor was something unusual. The more the teams meant more competition which he was happy about, but at the same time he also felt a bit stupid because some of the remaining genins seemed not much of a competition and he would be responsible for some teams passing easily in the upcoming tests as the second test seemed to be some kind of survival test.

His eyes silently gauged the competition/threat a team would pose him in the upcoming tests. A few teams had already caught his attention from the beginning of the exams and some even before the exams which included the team of the Yondaime's daughter and Konoha's last loyal Uchiha, the Hyuuga boy and his team, the only team from Iwa and the team of Gaara and his siblings. Then there was Kabuto and the ninja from Kusa of whom his instincts were screaming to him to stay out of their way.

…Anko's point of view…

'I so love this…' she thought as she watched the nervous and scared faces of the genins as their eyes feasted upon the magnificent view of Training Ground 44. Though there were few among the genins who didn't seem scared, but rather seemed to her as if they were looking forward to the upcoming challenge.

As she went on explaining the rules of the second part of the exams, her eyes steadily surveyed the genins in front of her. As she had thought and told Ibiki, most of the bunch was certainly not of the chuunin caliber. But there were certainly a good crop of genins in this lot as Ibiki had told her.

Her eyes then laid on the rookie teams of Konoha which were the most hyped teams from Konoha to join this year's exam. Three of the rookie teams were the most recently graduated teams from the academy, while the last was the team of genins who passed a year before them. Even she could tell that of the four teams, a few of the genins did seem to have potential from what she had heard of them.

Next her eyes laid on the teams that the Yondaime had ordered to keep a close eye on. First was the team from Otogakure, which in her opinion was a skilled team, but whether they had the potential or not of that she wasn't certain of. Next was one of the team from Sunagakure, which not only seemed skilled, but also in her accords the team with the highest potential of all the teams she had laid her eyes on so far. Last, but not the least was the ronin who had joined the exams without the aid of any team member.

Just like any ronin who entered a ninja village, the boy was under constant surveillance to gauge whether he was a threat to Konoha or not. She too had been on the watch in the last week once and in that time the only thing that she had learned about the boy was that he had an unhealthy obsession of ramen. It was really embarrassing to report the Hokage with only that information after being on the surveillance of the boy for twelve hours. She did feel relieved when she was informed that all those on the boy's surveillance had brought back information which was similar to hers. She like many on the watch of the boy knew of the bounty the boy had on his head through the recent bingo books, but till now she had seen the boy display any skills that had put him in the bingo books. A small tick mark appeared on her forehead as her eyes lay on the said boy as his head was currently buried deep in a book.

'Wasn't it enough for the brat to wear a mask like Kakashi…? As he now as his head buried deep in a book…' she thought. Though she had nothing against the boy, but she certainly had a grudge against Kakashi as he had recently eluded her from her rightful dango which he was to purchase for her as per a bet they made.

With a practiced ease and speed only one of a jounin rank and with years of training and experience could attain, a kunai left her wrist directly towards the boy. The kunai didn't seem to deflect from its intended target and the target itself didn't seem to notice the kunai approaching him. She watched with a small hidden smirk as the kunai graced the masked right cheek of the ronin and cut enough to draw some blood. This was her chance to rile up all the participants as she with a burst of speed appeared behind the boy lightly hugging him from the back.

"So little enthusiasm…" she started speaking cupping the face of the boy with her hands and bringing her face closer to his "… It is kids like you that are quickly killed… Hehehe… spraying the red blood I love…" she said as she licked the blood on his masked face.

She was mentally getting annoyed as she didn't get the desired response from the red head as he looked completely bored at her scaring tactics. But there was some relief when her eyes swept on the other contestants to find them scared by her little fun play.

At that moment she sensed someone creep on her from behind and on instinct she activated the hidden kunai mechanism in her sleeves which shot forth a kunai in her palms and blocked the incoming attack (hopefully).

"Here's your kunai…" she heard the voice of the female who held her kunai (previously thrown) by that elongated tongue of hers.

"Why thank you", she replied in mock happiness as she pressed her kunai a little further on that disgustingly long tongue of the Kusa-nin.

She didn't know why but something about the Kusa kunoichi was sending her bad vibes, but she ignored it for the time being.

"But you know, don't sneak up behind me unless you want to die", she said as she pocketed both her kunai.

"No… I just get excited when I see red blood… plus you cut my precious hair, I couldn't help it…" she smirked at the Kusa-nins reply.

"Sorry about that", she couldn't help but say as she as a woman understood the importance of hair to a woman.

"Looks like we have a lot of blood thirsty ones in this test. Hehehe, this should be fun", she couldn't help as the words left her lips.

'And some interesting ones…' she thought as she eyed the ronin standing next to her. It was clear to her when she tried to freak the boy out with her little crazy-blood-loving act that the boy had already anticipated her attack and could have possibly dodged it if he were to try. But her interest in him roused when she saw his eyes which had turned cold and calculating when the Kusa-nin sneaked on her. There was no sign of boredom or childish enthusiasm in his eyes which she had seen far as his eyes looked at the Kusa-nin. Somehow those cold and calculating bright blue eyes made her feel like being in the presence of the Yondaime Hokage which nerved her a bit.

…Normal point of view…

The nervousness could clearly be seen written on the faces of more than half the genins who had qualified for the second round of the Chuunin Selection Exams and the proctor was making sure that the nervousness was increased ten folds. The little stunt pulled by the proctor Mitarashi Anko on the ronin Naruto and the way she cheerfully explained the rules of the test made even the non nervous genins to be a bit nervous.

The second round were self explanatory as one just had to acquire either the heaven scroll or earth scroll considering which they had in possession and gather at the tower in the middle of training area 44. It was a survival test which was going to last for the maximum of five days. The things that made the test complicated was that no one knew of who carried which scroll making all teams each other's enemies. This along with some rules and the proctor's speech made some wish they had not participated in the exams.

After receiving one of the scrolls, all team had headed to the gates which were assigned to them from which they would enter the training area.

…With Naruto…

Currently he was standing in front of gate 30 with the scroll placed in the utility pouch. He knew well enough that he would be a major target of most of the teams inside the forest as they would hunt/scout the other teams for the second scroll considering his team consisted of him alone. Though there would be some doubt in some teams considering that they had learned of him being in the bingo book of Sunagakure.

His eyes then went onto the watch on his hand to find that only a few seconds remained for the second round of the exams to begin. He watched as the chuunin in front of the gate bought out the key of the lock which had the door shackled signifying that his wristwatch was on time. Just as his wristwatch indicated the time to be 3:30 pm, the voice of the proctor Anko roared from the speaker at the gate.

"THE SECOND TEST OF THE CHUUNIN EXAMS… NOW BEGINS!"

The moment the gates opened, he sped inside the forest leaping from one tree to another. After a few minutes of hoping from one tree to another, he stopped in a clearing after he felt that he had travelled a good distance away from the gate.

His first priority at this point was to ascertain the locations of the other teams and if possible their plans and the scroll they carried on them. For that he would need to go scout each of the 30 teams in the exams which was a very difficult task, but for him it wasn't. Scouting and information gathering was one of his specialty… one of his favorite jutsu was the Kage Bunshin no jutsu and the variations of the jutsu that the Old Man had helped him create… of the variations his Fūton Kage Bunshin no jutsu (Wind Release: Shadow Clone) was the most perfect jutsu for scouting and information gathering purposes… it was this very jutsu that had helped him advance through the First Round of the Exam… the Fūton Kage Bunshin had the ability to blend in the surrounding or rather the surrounding making it impossible to detect and only the best sensors could plot it…

Taking a deep breath all the while as his hands moved through the required hand seals for the Fūton Kage Bunshin no jutsu… as he finished with the hand seals, he blew huge amount of chakra infused air from his mouth which gathered around and formed clones of him… eight solid clones of him were formed… and with them being his doppelgangers and knowing his plan, moved into play with each taking one of the eight directions.

Now that the clones of him were on their job, Naruto decided to use his sensory abilities to find a couple of teams for him to go against… he just hoped the teams he would find would have the scroll he required… confronting team after team and depend on his luck that he would get the required scroll at the earliest was something he didn't wish to… but at the same time didn't mind kicking as much as ass as he could… after all he declared so before the start of the First Round.

But before he could make his way towards the closest team he had sensed, he was surrounded by enemies by all four sides… and this weren't the genins participating in the exams… rather this were tigers around 15 to 20 feet in height… the residents of the forest and by their look it seemed that he had walked into their territory… and they certainly didn't like him being there… just his luck to get him in such sticky situations.

"This is not something I was expecting…" muttered Naruto as he stared directly into the eyes of the tiger which seemed to be the leader of the four… there seemed to be no way out of this other than carving his way out.

Unsealing the chokutō (similar to that of Uchiha Sasuke uses with red scabbard and matching handle with the symbol of the Uzumaki Clan on both the scabbard and the handle) he kept sealed on his right wrist… letting his chakra flow through the blade to make it more effective, he was ready to fight.

It seemed that the tigers understood his gesture as the smallest of the group sprung upon with its sharp claws and teeth ready to tear him apart.

…With Ran…

She and her team had entered the Training Area 44 through gate 12 and had covered a good amount of ground before encountering a ninja from other qualified teams. The ninja she and her teammates had faced was from one of the teams of Amegakure. It seemed to her that the masked ninja they face had separated from his team in order to scout potential opponents from whom his team could easily take their scroll and seeing that her team was a rookie, the masked ninja had taken his chance and failed miserably.

Sasuke with a little help from her had easily defeated the Ame-nin. But because of his quick attack they had failed to capture the masked-nin as he fled from the scene at the quickest moment possible after an injury to his left arm. She really wanted to claw the Uchiha for his arrogance because if he hadn't rushed into the attack, they could have captured the masked-nin and if luck was on their side they would have had the Earth scroll.

She didn't know what gave the Uchiha the idea, but he suddenly started acting as if he was the leader of their squad. She wanted to object, but decided to against knowing well enough that Sakura would support him blindly and she didn't want to argue with her teammates for as long as they were in the forest.

But before the team could make any decision on the tactics they would implement to find the Earth scroll, they were attacked. A huge and powerful gust of wind swept the three teammates of Team 7 in three different directions.

By the time she regained herself from the gust of wind, she could easily tell that the three of them had completely separated from each other. It was clear to her that this was an enemy-nin idea of dividing the team as she was certain that the gust of wind was a Fuuton jutsu. But she didn't have any time to think about her teammates when she found a huge shadow above her which happened to be a gigantic snake.

'Are there really these big snakes in this forest…' though Ran with fear evident in her eyes.

She didn't have much time to think as the snake charged at her with its jaws wide open. She avoided the strike by jumping away. She kept on jumping until she was certain that she would be out of the striking area of the snake until she prepared her counter-attack. She watched as the snake slithered close to her as she removed some kunai from her pouch and attached exploding tags to them.

The kunai found their target after leaving the hands of Ran and exploded right on the face of the snake. At first she thought that the explosion might be enough to take down the snake, but her father's words rang in her mind. Always expect the unexpected. So she quickly created a couple of Kage Bunshins as they too prepared some kunais which had exploding tags attached to them.

And true to her dad's words, even before the smoke cleared the snake attacked again as its tail grabbed one of her clones. But this time she was ready for the snake. The moment the snake opened its jaw to swallow the clone it had grabbed in its tail, she and the remaining clone threw the kunais directly in its open mouth. And with a big bang the head of the snake was blasted into smithereens.

She decided to not wait any longer and rushed to search for her teammates before a predator like the snake found her.

If only she had waited for even a few seconds, she could have seen the body of the snake disappear in a cloud of smoke similar to summoning animals which would have given her the idea of the danger up ahead.

…With Naruto…

It was now just down to Naruto and the leader of the group of the tigers as the others were already unconscious with cuts on their bodies… though none of the damage he had inflicted on them was life threatening. Throughout the fight, Naruto had also not left unharmed as he now had a large slash across the length of his left arm. Meanwhile the leader of the tigers had a vertical scar on the left side of his face (similar to Kakashi's scar) and a rather big wound on his right front leg.

The fight between the two had long since stopped since the defeat of the other tigers… the surrounding seemed to have seen better days… the destruction was one worthy site with trees uprooted and holes in the ground… and now in the clearing only stood Naruto and the leader of the tigers… and both of them just kept staring at each other waiting for the right moment to attack.

The moment of their final exchange was drawn with the last of the tigers excluding the leader fell unconscious… with that the leader gave a menacing roar and charged at him. Naruto too charged at the tiger with his chokutō outstretched he let lightning chakra flow through the blade as lightning seemed to crackle of it.

It was at the very last moment that Naruto dodged the claw strike from the leader at the very last moment and slashed the right side of the tiger with the lightning chakra enhanced blade. That slash along with numbing effect of lightning seemed to be enough as the leader dropped down with a large howl and lost the battle to consciousness.

Naruto breathed a huge sigh of relief as finally the fight was over… it really was troublesome to go against ten tigers at once that were around 15 to 20 feet in height. Sealing the chokutō back in its seal his mind pondered on the situation… somehow the tigers seemed more skilful for normal tigers… taking their height into consideration and that they lived in a forest where ninjas come to train… something he just couldn't understand. Then there was the part where he could have used another way to get out of this fight unscathed… but for some reason his guts refused to do so… using that method would had been so much easier… yet he went along with his gut feeling and fought the tigers in a fight for superiority… it was stupid of him he knew, but his gut feeling him never wrong till date, so he had went along with it.

Deciding to ponder on that a little later he worked on healing the large cut on his left arm with medical ninjutsu… and being skilled in that area it didn't take more than a couple of seconds for his wound to heal… he had no intention of fighting other team in the competition or another predator with a injured arm.

But before he could leave the clearing and walk on his path to the nearest team he felt another presence approaching him from the woods and whatever it was… it certainly wasn't human… it seemed to be moving at a relaxed pace. Unsealing the Chakra Blade once more he got ready to fight as Lightning chakra flowed through the blade.

To his utter surprise from the woods walked out a very old looking white tiger waling only on his hind legs holding a staff in one of his front legs. The tiger stood about four feet in height and a dark yellow cloak draped over his body.

'What in the world…?' Naruto couldn't help but think out loud.

"You are certainly an interesting cub…" spoke the old white tiger.

…With Ran…

By the time she arrived at the place where her other two teammates were, she wished she was a bit early or at the least a few seconds late. The reason for this was a sight in front of her. She watched in disgust as the Kusa-nin from earlier had somehow elongated his neck and his jaws were currently on the neck of Sasuke as it bit him on the neck. She didn't know what the Kusa-nin intended to do by biting on the neck of Sasuke, but it certainly was causing the Uchiha a hell lot of pain as she saw him trash around holding his neck.

"So the daughter of the Yondaime Hokage finally arrives… so that means you were able to defeat my pet snake…" said the Kusa-nin as she now focused on Ran.

'Pet snake…' thought Ran while she jumped down to stand in front of Sasuke and Sakura (who was hugging him to make him stop from writhing around in pain).

"I must say I am impressed… to defeat my summons so quickly… you truly are your parent's child, Ran-chan", continued the Kusa-nin with a small glee in her voice.

'Summon…' "You, what did you do to Sasuke?" asked Ran as anger started to boil in her. Even though she hated the Uchiha for his arrogance and cockiness, they were still teammates.

"I just intend to give him a little present. Something which will make him seek me for power", replied the Kusa-nin.

"What in the world are you talking about?" Ran shouted seeing the sadistic grin on the Kusa-nin's face.

"That aside… At first I had no intention of confronting you as my only target was Sasuke-kun, but now that you are here… how about you show me what the daughter of the Yondaime is capable of", said the Kusa-nin with a very terrifying grin on her face.

She knew that there was no escaping this situation, especially seeing the condition of Sasuke and knowing that Sakura was not going to be of any use as she seemed more concerned about Sasuke as it was now onto her to save them from this situation.

Forming the specific hand seal required for one of her most useful jutsu, five identical clones of her popped into existence next to her as she called out, "Kage Bunshin no jutsu."

The fight started the moment as her clones charged at the Kusa-nin with a kunai in each hand. Even at their best it was clear that the five clones were no match for the Kusa-nin as Ran watched her dodge and parry each of her clones strikes and slashes with relative ease. It was as if the Kusa-nin was playing with her which frustrated her to no extent. Attaching special sealing tags she had created to four different kunais, she too charged in the fray.

Throughout the fight which had gone for about couple of minutes, she and her clones had only been able to hurt the Kusa-nin a few times and that too couldn't be considered serious enough to damper his dodging skills. Luckily for her the Kusa-nin didn't seem much obliged on offence which helped her to execute the plan she had in mind.

She jumped back to attain some distance between herself and the Kusa-nin as her hand quickly formed the hand seals required for the jutsu. While performing the hand seals she molded as much as chakra she could into the required nature of the jutsu. Finally finishing the hand seals, she brought her fingers of her right hand to her lips in an half Ram hand seal as water gushed from her mouth like a waterfall making its way towards the Kusa-nin as she used the Suiton: Mizurappa (Water Release: Wild Water Wave) jutsu.

As the torrent of water made its way towards the Kusa-nin who by now had already defeated four out of her five clones, she formed a half Ram hand seal with her free left hand activating the tags on the four kunais which were now placed in four different directions with the Kusa-nin as its centre. The tags on the kunais glowed and started releasing lightning as the Kekkai Shihō Raijin (Four-Corner Lightning Formation Barrier) was activated binding and zapping the unsuspecting Kusa-nin and destroying the clone.

Ran watched as the Kusa-nin released a loud scream as the water from the Suiton: Mizurappa (Water Release: Wild Water Wave) connected with him increasing the shock form the Kekkai Shihō Raijin (Four-Corner Lightning Formation Barrier). This was her strongest combo she had worked out recently and she didn't think she would need it so early. But for some reason just watching the Kusa kunoichi sent shivers down her spine that she decided that she decided to use every best possible jutsu she could use at the moment to defeat or at least stall the kunoichi.

"Kukuku… Impressive… to be able to pull off such a deadly combo… truly impressive…" the Kusa-nin said as she walked out of the combo jutsu nearly unscathed.

Ran couldn't believe her eyes, this was her best combo and yet the Kusa-nin had brushed it off as if it was nothing. The only sign that the Kusa-nin was under any attack was that the skin of her face was being peeled off as if it was a mask. This put her on the edge. She knew she had to keep attacking in hope that she might defeat or at least make a way for her and her teammates to rush out of this situation. Speaking of teammates, Sasuke was still writhing in pain while Sakura was busy trying to comfort the boy. It really irritated her seeing Sakura as she thought that she should help her find a way for them to escape this crisis rather than sit there idly holding Sasuke.

Leaving the anger at Sakura aside, she charged at the Kusa-nin. She quickly flicked a handful of kunai to whom exploding tags were attached before jumping high above the ground as her hands started forming hand seals for another jutsu which would be more effective from high ground. But before she could complete her jutsu, she watched in horror as the Kusa-nin use the Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique) to summon a very large snake. It didn't take her much to recognize the ninja she was facing as there were only two people she knew were capable of summoning snakes in a battle. So the person in front of her would either be a new student of the Sannin Orochimaru or Orochimaru himself.

Unfortunately for her, her train of thoughts stopped there as the tail of the snake hit her directly sending her higher above where her back collided with few branches making blood splutter out of her mouth before gravity brought her down back.

"Hehehe… Go ahead and eat her", Orochimaru commanded the snake as he watched the girl barrel downwards.

On her way down seeing her death approaching by means of being eaten by the snake, Ran subconsciously tapped into the Kyuubi chakra as her eyes turned red with slits, her whiskers darkened and nails grew longer.

"Eat this!" Ran shouted as she punched the snake in the face completely shaking its base.

But before she could touch the ground, she was blasted by what seemed to her to be a Fuuton- Katon (Wind Release- Fire Release) combo. Again before she could steady herself, she was captured by the long tongue of the Kusa-nin and was brought face-to-face with the Kusa-nin.

"I see… when your emotions are heightened… the power of the Kyuubi overflows… very interesting…" she heard the Kusa-nin say as he formed a unique hand seal and his tongue lifted her kimono-like blouse enough for him to see the seal on her stomach.

"Oh my… the seal is visible…" she heard him say as his eyes lay on her seal.

Ran watched in horror as the Kusa-nin slammed his fingers of his right hand which were glowing with purple chakra directly on her seal. Just seconds later after the Kusa-nin placed the unknown seal on her seal as she lost her battle against consciousness.

…With Sakura…

Things looked good for her and her team since they had entered the forest as the first person they faced was defeated with ease by Sasuke-kun. Seeing the ease with which Sasuke-kun had defeated the Ame-nin, her mind had already made up an image of her and her team breezing the second test with ease. But just moments later everything had gone downhill when her team was hit by a powerful gust.

At this moment she would sincerely accept after seeing Ran selflessly fight for the team against the Kusa-nin for the team that she didn't even think of searching for her after being separated from her team by the powerful gust. She had only sought for Sasuke at that moment and only after reuniting with Sasuke did she remember of Ran because of Sasuke.

But before the two could search for her, the Kusa-nin had appeared in front of them with her eyes set on Sasuke. Only one look by the Kusa-nin, both she and Sasuke were gripped with fear to their core. For the first time she had seen death and it was only by looking into the Kusa-nin's eyes. She couldn't even react to save Sasuke when the Kusa-nin attacked him and bit down him on his neck. She only could helplessly try to calm the Sasuke who was writhing in pain while Ran fight of the Kusa-nin who had arrived just seconds after the Kusa-nin bit down Sasuke's neck.

Now not only Sasuke, but even Ran was incapacitated. It was really lucky on her part that she was able to act at the last moment when she saw the Kusa-nin throw Ran high above in the air. She flicked a kunai which caught her in midair saving her from a fate from dying from falling from high above.

"Who are you?" she couldn't help but ask the freakish Kusa-nin who seemed to be doing some fixing with her/his peeled of face.

"My name is Orochimaru… If you want to see me again, then survive and pass this exam… of course, defeating my men, the Oto-nin trio on the way", she heard his reply, though it caught her attention that he seemed to be mostly speaking to Sasuke who albeit the pain was still somehow conscious.

"What the hell are you talking about? We'd never want to see your face again!" Sakura shouted finding her voice.

"Hehe… it won't go that way…" she heard the Kusa-nin say as he/she made a hand seal which she was not familiar with.

She watched in horror as the moment the Kusa-nin formed the weird hand seal, Sasuke cried out in agony and started trashing around as if his pain was increased ten folds. Albeit all this, she didn't miss the formation of some sort of a tattoo-seal on Sasuke's neck where moments ago the Kusa-nin had bit.

"Sasuke-kun will seek me… to seek power…" she heard the Kusa-nin say.

"What did you do to Sasuke-kun?" she shouted at the Kusa-nin who seemed to be being engulfed by the ground.

"Just as I said to Ran-chan, I gave him a present", answered the Kusa-nin as he was devoured by the ground.

…With Naruto…

Not even a day had passed since the start of the Chuunin Selection Exams and Naruto had already received something only a few ninjas throughout the Elemental Nations could say of having. He just couldn't believe his luck as he had unknowingly stumbled upon something so precious. A really big smile plastered his face remembering the encounter with the old white tiger.

Just an hour after he had left the side of the Old White Tiger, he had come across a team from Takigakure no Sato. To say he was disappointed with that encounter was an understatement, he was royally pissed. Those idiots had gone far as to taunt him of how lowly shinobi he was and that him being in the bingo books was nothing but a fluke. It only took him a minute for take them down after the three had attacked him with the best jutsu they possibly could use, those jutsus were hardly at genin level. It was only his happy mood and them having the Earth scroll that he wanted that he left them unconscious with hardly any severe injuries to boot.

Now that he made his way towards the tower in the centre of the forest as he took his sweet, calm time that he felt a familiar chakra signature close by. His body stiffened as he felt that evil and tainted chakra that he had once sensed a couple of months back when he had been visited by one of Orochimaru's most loyal lackey. Though the feel of the tainted chakra was nowhere close to that of Kimimaro, still he knew it was better for him to investigate on the source of that tainted chakra. Focusing for a couple of seconds with his eyes closed as he expanded his senses to find the exact location of the one emitting that tainted chakra. The moment he found the exact location, with a burst of chakra to his feet he dashed in the direction where he located the ninja with Orochimaru's Juinjutsu (Cursed Seal Technique).

Finally arriving at the place, he saw a sight which shocked and to some extent disgusted him. There he was, Uchiha Sasuke breaking the arms of one the Oto-nins with more than half his body covered in the markings of Orochimaru's Juinjutsu (Cursed Seal Technique). It was clear that the boy was relishing the moment he snapped the arms of the Oto-nin and above all seemed to be relishing in the power that the curse mark was granting him.

Before he could decide whether he should interfere and stop the Uchiha, he watched with slack jaw as the pink haired girl hug him from behind begging him to stop and to his utter amusement the seal receded back. It made him conclude that there was still hope to save the Uchiha. But the interference of the pink haired girl made him look around to find that there were actually four teams in the clearing of which two genins were unconscious. He focused on sensing the chakra of the unconscious genins and found that there seemed nothing wrong with the boy in green jumpsuit, but the flow of the chakra in the blonde girl seemed to be in a mess. His focus was disrupted when he heard the pink haired girl scream a question at the Oto-mummy-nin and mentioned the name of Orochimaru.

'So Orochimaru is indeed here…' he thought as he watched the Oto-tri leave and couldn't help but be worried with the news he had received before deciding to enter the Chuunin Selection Exam.

As he watched the girl with Chinese-style buns hairdo on either side of her head attend to her unconscious green jumpsuit teammate and the blonde in purple attend the unconscious blonde, he wondered whether should he wait a little longer or leave now before his presence was known or make his presence known.

…With everyone…

Sasuke mind was completely clouded as he just couldn't figure what the hell had happened when he fought the Oto-nin. He knew that he was responsible for the defeat of the Oto-trio, but just how he couldn't fathom. While he fought the Oto-nin, he had felt a power which was not his coursing through his body and that was the puzzle he couldn't put in piece to. Where had he received that power? Suddenly he remembered the words of the fake Kusa-nin and his eyes drifted to the seal-tattoo on his neck. 'Was that the source of that power?' he wondered.

Yamanaka Ino didn't understand as to what make of the situation. She along with her teammates had come along to help Sakura after Chouji pointing out that she was in a peril and that Ran and Sasuke were unconscious. She along with Shikamaru and Chouji had confronted the Oto-trio before they dealt some serious damage to Sakura, but even their team combo had failed. Then Sasuke had entered the fight with his weird black marks on his body and weirder chakra and with ease defeated one of the Oto-nin and scared the shit out of the other. It was only timely intervention of Sakura that stopped Sasuke from going on a rampage, though she hated how she had taken the chance to hug Sasuke. Now she had taken on herself to wake up Ran. This was what had scared her the most as she saw the unconscious figure of Ran. She had known her since childhood and knew that there were hardly any things that could render the girl unconscious, especially during something so important. And to know that there was someone who was able to that to not only Sasuke, but Ran too really scared her. She gently nudged the sleeping blonde as she had long since learned the way to wake up the other blonde during their childhood stay at each other's home.

"Ino! What are you doing here?" Ran asked the moment she woke up anticipating the Kusa-nin close by, but to come fact-to-face with the blonde hair and green eyes of her childhood friend Ino.

"Me and my team and Tenten's team were here to save you guys", answered Ino.

"Save us…" muttered Ran as her eyes swept around the clearing and through to Ino's words, both Ino and Tenten's team were present. While her eyes swept across the field, she didn't miss the injuries of Rock Lee and Sakura and also Sakura's short hair.

"What in the world happened while I was unconscious?" Ran asked out loud catching the attention of Sakura.

The glare Ran shot her when she was unwilling to speak made Sakura speak like a parrot. She told Ran everything that had transpired from the time she had been rendered unconscious by the Kusa-nin who called himself Orochimaru not noticing the widening of Ran's eyes. As she recounted the events to Ran, she omitted the part of Sasuke receiving the curse mark as she saw the look in Sasuke's eyes. (Same events took place as in canon Naruto.)

A lot of things had happened since she had been rendered unconscious that Ran could understand, but to know that the Kusa-nin she fought was Orochimaru shocked her. She had thought of that possibility when she saw the Kusa-nin summon the snake, but to know it was really him was a completely different matter. She knew that Orochimaru is considered the biggest threat to Konoha and she knew that she had to go and inform her dad about him being here, but at the same time she just couldn't leave this Exams as she also a knew a lot rid on this particular exam. All that matters aside, she decided to concentrate on the exam and her team's current situation as she was certain that somehow that her dad would come to know of it. The first being that she had to thank Ino and Tenten's team, especially Lee (who had been woken up by Tenten), Ino, Chouji and Shikamaru for helping her team in their crisis. But before she could thank them, she felt a presence hiding in the nearby trees. Deciding to not take any chances she flicked the kunai in the direction of the place she felt someone hiding.

Ran's flicking a kunai towards the trees caught the eyes of few of the genins present there, but the resounding boom from the kunai got everyone's attention as they looked at the source of the explosion.

"Say, by any chance you like explosions, because most shinobis would flick a handful of kunai and shuriken at an hiding target rather than flicking a kunai with an exploding tag attached to it", Ran heard a familiar voice she had recently heard from behind her.

'When did he…?' was the thought of all the genins present there as they watched the bright red head boy with blue mask appear behind Ran.

'Yet again I couldn't sense him…' thought Sasuke with a frown on his face. He wanted to go attack the boy, but couldn't as his body did not respond to his mental command.

'I couldn't even sense him…' thought Hyuuga Neji with a frown similar to that of the Uchiha. For now he decided to wait and watch what the boy was capable of as he was certain that Namikaze would attack him.

Ran decided not to wait for answers as she quickly brought out a kunai from her pouch and went for a slash at the ronin behind her. But to her surprise he blocked her kunai with his own with relative ease and easily overpowered her.

"Now guys, I have no intention of fighting any of you", said Naruto as he watched almost everyone ready to attack him.

"Then why are you here?" asked Ino who was closest to Ran and him.

"Oh, simple really! I sensed the tainted chakra released when the Uchiha went berserk and decided to come and investigate", answered Naruto as his eyes laid on the Uchiha causing the eyes of the others to widen.

"Lies… I bet you are here for our scroll…" Sakura shouted at Naruto as she wanted to completely deny his accusations of Sasuke posing tainted chakra.

"You know I am not lying (looking at Sakura)… apart from her (pointing at Ran), you all saw the Uchiha use it…and as for the scroll, I already have both", replied Naruto as he fiercely gazed at Sakura making her flinch.

The news of him having both the scrolls everyone's attention, but it dwarfed at his mention of them seeing the use of the tainted chakra by the Uchiha. It was true; they had all seen it except Ran.

"How about as a show of good faith, I help your team…" said Naruto startling everyone.

"Your chakra it is all messed up isn't it?" asked Naruto directly looking at Ran to the surprise of everyone.

"How did you…?" muttered Ran in a low voice which only Naruto could hear. She had felt it from the moment she had awakened that the flow of chakra in her chakra coils was all messed up and only because of her huge chakra reserve was she able to still access her chakra.

"Sensory-nin…" Naruto answered simply.

"I see…" muttered Ran.

"So how do you intend to help us?" asked Ran as she relaxed a bit yet being on guard.

"If I am not mistaken, the disturbance in your chakra flow must be because of some seal that Orochimaru placed on you during your teams encounter with him", answered Naruto with a serious look on his face.

Ran was stunned, as the boy had with such ease depicted the cause of the disturbance in her chakra flow. Normally she would have been on guard on someone who knew so much, especially if the person was not on the scene, but the look in his eyes it reminded her so much of her dad when he was serious while he fought for something precious to him that it made her relax.

"Yes", she replied.

"Can I see it?" asked Naruto.

Ran knew that she shouldn't be doing this, but she was doing it. She knew she shouldn't trust a complete stranger, but she was. She lifted her blouse exposing her stomach to the bright red haired boy in front of her, enough for him to see the seal that Orochimaru placed on her. She then started molding her chakra for making the seal visible. She knew by doing this she was also exposing the Hakke no Fuuin (Eight Trigrams Seal) that was keeping the Kyuubi no Youko (Nine-Tailed Demon Fox) at bay. A small blush crept on her face as she watched Naruto stare at the stomach (seal) with intense concentration.

"Beautiful…" the word subconsciously left Naruto's mouth.

"W-What!" stuttered Ran as he heard the word that left Naruto's lips as her face started heating up with more intensity.

On the side, all the genins were dumbfounded, especially those who were friends with Ran, to see her act the way she was currently and especially the blush on her face, they were having a mental breakdown.

Oblivious to world around him, Naruto kept on analyzing Ran's seal, "No wonder… to be able to combine two Shishō Fuuin (Four Symbols Seal) and forming a stronger and more potent seal… the Yondaime Hokage truly is one of the greatest Seal Masters to grace the shinobi world…"

The entire blush on Ran's face vanished in a second and her face heated up in annoyance as a tick mark appeared on her forehead as she heard him speak about the Hakke no Fuuin (Eight Trigrams Seal) as if it was his long lost lover. Meanwhile the others face faulted at what they heard him say as none had much knowledge on Fuuinjutsu.

Still oblivious to the people around him, Naruto continued speaking "… And on top of it… the Gogyō Fuuin (Five Elements Seal)… it must be placed by Orochimaru… an even and odd sealing methods on top of each other… no wonder your chakra is a mess…"

Directly looking into the eyes of Ran, startling her, he formed a specialized hand seal as he said with a serious voice, "Brace yourself."

"What do you…?" Ran couldn't complete her question as she watched Naruto's finger glow with blue chakra and different characters appearing on his fingers similar to Orochimaru. Before she could ask what he intended to do, he slammed his fingers on her stomach and she understood why he had ordered her to brace herself as the moment he had slammed his fingers into her stomach she felt as if hit by a one of mom's punch. Kushina had one hell of a right hook.

"What did you do to Ran?" asked Ino as looked at the kneeling form of Ran as she held her stomach as if in great pain. Even though her friendship with Ran had not been similar to that when they were children since she didn't approve of her stupidly idolizing the Uchiha, she was still her friend. She just like the others got into a fighting stance to fight the ronin if it would come to it.

Completely disregarding the others who had taken a fighting stance, Naruto held out his hand for Ran who took it and stood up. "I believe your problem should be solved", Naruto said.

"Yes…" answered Ran as she could feel her chakra flow and control back to the way it was before the fight with Orochimaru.

"What did you do?" Ran couldn't help but ask.

"Oh… I just used a counter seal Gogyō Kaiin (Five Elements Unseal) which removed the Gogyō Fuuin (Five Elements Seal) Orochimaru placed over you", answered Naruto.

"Thanks", Ran replied with utmost sincerity. But on the inside she was awed at his skills at Fuuinjutsu as she had heard of the Gogyō Fuuin (Five Elements Seal) and Gogyō Kaiin (Five Elements Unseal) and it required great skill to use those jutsus. And as far as she knew, only her parents, Ero-jii-san, Tsunade-baa-chan and Sandaime-O-jii-san were capable of using the two jutsus.

"How about this… as thanks the two of us could hitch a date when we get a break from the exams", said Naruto to the shock of everyone present.

Ran was completely dumbfounded. The first time he had asked her out or rather one of the three (Hinata, Ino and her) on a date, she knew it was to aggravate Temari. But this time there was no such thing as he was actually asking her out on a date. Being the daughter of the Yondaime Hokage no boy had tried to hit on her and even then she had no interest in the boys around her age she had known so far, but so couldn't be said about Naruto. The boy had been on her mind since the day she had seen him and had developed a little interest in him.

Seeing no response been given for a couple of minutes Naruto spoke in a dejected tone, "Well it seems a no…"

'No, it is not a NO, it is a YES… SPEAK UP YOU IDIOT…' Ran berated herself but no voice left her mouth.

The dejected Naruto didn't last longer as he perked up and directly facing Ino, Sakura and Tenten and said, "Since she is a no (pointing at Ran)… how about one of you?"

The girls were surprised at this person standing in front of him asking them on a date after being hopefully rejected by Ran. But before any of the three could reject him, though hesitantly, they all felt a very terrifying aura behind the blonde which was being emanated by Ran.

"It just like that girl Temari said, you are a FLIRT!" Ran cried out as she tried to punch the blonde who easily dodged her enraged punch.

Dodging, avoiding and parrying Ran's onslaught of punches Naruto said, "I disagree… I am no flirt… it is just that I can't decide on a single girl with so many beautiful girls around."

That answer stopped Ran in her track enough for Naruto to escape her proximity and stand at a length which would certain his escape. Meanwhile all the girls in the clearing had a blush on their face at the words of Naruto. As for the boys, Shikamaru, Chouji and Lee were enjoying popcorn which the chubby Akimichi brought out of nowhere and Sasuke and Neji didn't seem to care.

"Your accusations aside (looking at Ran who had a tick mark on her forehead)… I can help the Uchiha by sealing away the curse mark, but it will take some time and render him unconscious for a couple of days… but because of this test we don't have that much time, so take him to your sensei the minute this test ends" said Naruto with a serious look on his face which left no room for any reply.

"Serious talk's aside… the offer still is valid for all four of you…" Naruto said with a huge grin behind the mask.

"See you guys at the tower", Naruto called out as he watched Ran burn with anger and dashed towards the direction of the tower.

"That…. that… Flirt…" Ran muttered in anger as she watched the red head disappear.

"You had decided to agree to go on a date with him, hadn't you?" Ino whispered into her ears for only her to hear.

"Indeed I did", Ran said out loud.

The snickering of Ino brought her back to the right state of mind as she understood what she had just blurted out and she went on damage control as she said, "I mean that I was going to pound him for his flirting."

"But you aren't denying to what I asked to you", replied Ino as her giggles increased.

"It's nothing like that", shouted Ran.

"You can't fool me Ran", said Ino.

Meanwhile at the sidelines the trio of Lee, Chouji and Shikamaru were enjoying the show that was taking place in front of them. The fight of words between Ino and Ran was getting more interesting and at some point Tenten and Sakura had joined sides with Ino too.

"This is better than any show I have ever watched", said Chouji munching down handful of popcorn.

"Their flames of youth are burning with the intensity of the sun", Lee added his penny of thought.

"Troublesome… are lives were already enough troublesome… but with that boy's intrusion it will be more troublesome then ever", said Shikamaru as he watched the argument heat up with Ino deciding that she wouldn't mind dating the red head.

…With Naruto…

In less than an hour after separating from the group Naruto arrived at the tower in the centre of forest. He with a small disappointed look on his walked inside the room which seemed to be assigned for him which when entered was completely empty. He had thought that there would be get to see the violet haired proctor wearing the mesh body suit that showed her form perfectly after arriving at the tower, but it was just his thought after all.

Inside the empty room, the big scroll that was attached on the wall directly opposite from the entrance door caught his attention. It was not exactly the scroll, but what was written on it was what garnered his interests.

If you lack HEAVEN, seek wisdom, be prepared. If you lack EARTH, run in the fields, seek advantage. And if you HEAVEN and EARTH, you can succeed in even the most dangerous mission. These rules will guide a - extreme.

It only took a glance at the scroll for him to understand that this had something to do with the two scrolls as the words Heaven and Earth were highlighted on that large scroll. It seemed to him that he was supposed to open the two scrolls. Bringing out the scroll, in one swift motion he unfurled the scrolls. But the moment he opened the scroll, his eyes widen at the seal for a teleportation jutsu inscribed on the two scrolls with the kanji for person at the seals centre. Quickly placing the two scrolls on the ground, he quickly jumped back forming some distance between him and the scrolls.

With a small bang and a lot of smoke, a person stood where Naruto had placed the two scrolls. When the smoke cleared, Naruto's eyes lay on one of the most beautiful women he had seen in his entire life. She was wearing the standard Konohagakure jounin outfit. But what caught his major attention was her bright red hair whose shade was similar to his.

Now that he thought about it clearly, he seemed to remember her from somewhere as his mind took a look at her smiling face. Then it came to him that he had seen her when he had peeked upon the onsen here at Konohagakure on his first day here, the woman in front of him was there at the bath house. Yes, that's where he had seen her. But something inside him was telling him that was not the only time which he just shrugged of considering he would remember someone as beautiful as this woman if he had seen her before.

He was a pervert, which he would admit. It was the fault of the old man. He had from a young age thought him to appreciate the art, whether manmade or created by nature and according to him women/girls were the most precious and beautiful creation of nature. Also introducing him to the world of Icha-Icha was another step towards sending him joining the world of perverts. Though he had learned how to control his inner pervert self unlike the old man or Jiraya.

But for some unknown reason there was not even a hint of perverseness in his thoughts as he looked at the woman in front of her. Now that he thought about it, it was similar during the bath house incident. At that time instead of staring at the curves of the woman, he kept on staring at her face as if searching for something. Heck, he even felt a bit nervous when she had asked him a simple question. He just chalked it to be because of the age gap, which he knew was just his idea of answering his questions and feelings which had no answers and no meaning. The feeling of warmth that was filling his heart seeing the woman smile at him just had no meaning to it or to simply put it, he didn't understand why.

Though to all his thoughts he completely missed the torrents of emotions run through the violet orbs of the Kushina at seeing him. Somehow Kushina was able to keep the outer façade of calm and gentle while on the inside she was holding herself back from holding the boy in her arms.

"Not that I mind company, but you wouldn't happen to be on some sort of congratulatory committee for the genin teams who pass this round", said Naruto breaking the silence between the two.

Kushina was quite astounded by Naruto's perceptiveness, though she couldn't help but a small laughter left her lips at the sarcasm that dripped his words even after they were meant for their brilliant idea of surprising the genins.

"Yes… Yes I am", Kushina replied still giggles escaping her lips.

Even Naruto couldn't help it as a small smile graced his lips as he heard the woman laugh; it somehow made him happy too.

"So… ehh…" Naruto said unsure about what next.

"Yes… right…" Kushina scratched the back of her head in embarrassment as she had completely forgotten the reason she was here "… Congratulations are in order of you passing the test within 24 hours Naruto-kun…" she saw him stiffen a bit at her using his name "… You don't mind me calling you Naruto-kun, do you?"

"N-No… No, it is fine… ehh…" replied Naruto though he felt strangely happy.

"Oh right… My name is Uzumaki-Namikaze Kushina", she replied and was not the surprised to see his eyes widen.

"Akai Chishio no Habanero (Red Hot-Blooded Habanero)!" Naruto muttered as he looked at the woman in awe. He had heard of her from the old man and also knew that she was one of the strongest and most feared kunoichi of all times.

This did surprise Kushina; she had expected him to recall her as the wife of the Yondaime Hokage and not as the title she received when she was in the academy and had attached to her throughout her carrier.

"So… Is that all?" asked Naruto.

"Oh, no! I am supposed to also tell you the meaning of the motto of the Chuunin written by Sandaime Hokage-sama… The Heaven in the motto refers to Human Mind and the Earth refers to Human Body…" she said as she started explaining the motto, but abruptly stopped when she heard the words that left the mouth of Naruto.

"Yin and Yang… so that's how it is…" muttered Naruto as it didn't take much time for him to understand the motto after the reference that Kushina gave.

"You understand?" she asked with a questioning look.

"It means that if you have shortage of one you should train harder for it and only a balance of the two will see you to greatness. If I am not mistaken, the missing word from the line 'These rules will guide a - extreme' must be either shinobi or person", replied Naruto completely stunning Kushina.

"Y-Yes, that's what it means", replied a dumbfounded Kushina.

"So… What I am supposed to do for the next four days of the test?" asked Naruto.

"You will have to stay at the tower for the next four days until the test is over…" she answered.

"… And you aren't allowed to leave the tower", she added seeing the glint in the blue eyes of Naruto which faded away at her words which caused her to chuckle further.

TO BE CONTINUED…


End file.
